With Liam Manning having left to join Bristol City, the board at Oxford United are looking to appoint a new manager for the second time in eight months.
Below, we have highlighted five different candidates, ranging from out of work, experienced and currently employed.
Des Buckingham
A name that was linked when the U’s hired Manning, Oxford-born Des Buckingham ticks plenty of boxes.
A former coach at the club, Buckingham has spent much of his coaching career overseas with Wellington Phoenix and New Zealand at various youth groups.
After winning the OFC U20 Championship, the OFC U23 Championship and the Pacific Games, the 38-year-old joined the City Football Group and took over at Melbourne City, winning the A-League Premiership and A-League Championship.
From there, Buckingham remained with CFG and is currently employed at Mumbai City where he won the Indian Super League Winners’ Shield.
Besides a stint at Stoke, Buckingham lacks experience in the Football League. However, that was the same story with Manning before he joined MK Dons.
Similarly to Manning, working for the CFG group means they’ll share a similar philosophy when it comes to football and tactics. It could mean a smooth transition for the current squad.
Brian Barry-Murphy
Similar to Buckingham, former Bury midfielder Brian Barry-Murphy is currently employed by CFG.
The 45-year-old, who ended his playing career with Rochdale before spending two years as their manager, was appointed as manager of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad.
His role involves working with the up-and-coming youngsters at the Etihad, which include the likes of Samuel Edozie, Romeo Lavia and Rico Lewis.
During his time at Rochdale, he earned praise for overseeing an attractive, possession-based brand of attacking football as well for his work in developing and encouraging young talent. He has also won back-to-back PL2 titles with the young Citizens.
Like Buckingham, Barry-Murphy’s style and tactics would work given the current squad.
John Eustace
Recently replaced Birmingham manager John Eustace also ticks plenty of boxes.
To begin, he is the first unemployed manager on this list, meaning the board wouldn’t need to pay compensation to another club.
As a player, Eustace managed just shy of 400 Championship appearances over a 19-year career.
As a manager, Eustace first joined Kidderminster and transformed the club’s playing style, being dubbed the “non-league Barcelona“. He also guided Kiddy to successive playoff campaigns.
He left and joined former manager Steve McClaren at QPR and would later work simultaneously as an assistant for the Republic of Ireland.
He was awarded with a position at Birmingham. Despite being the bookies’ favourites to go down, Eustace kept the club in the Championship while finishing with their highest points tally since 2016.
This season, his Blues side sat sixth in the second tier before the club’s owners decided to replace him with Wayne Rooney.
Leam Richardson
Another currently out of work, Leam Richardson is a manager who knows how to gain promotion from League One.
The 43-year-old guided Wigan to promotion to the Championship by winning the title in the 2021/22 season.
The head coach also won promotion to the second tier with the Latics a few seasons earlier when he was assistant to Paul Cook, before the duo gained another promotion with Portsmouth in 2017.
Of course, he was unable to keep Wigan in the Championship and was dismissed but the club have had plenty of off-field troubles in recent seasons.
Given the backing of the board and being employed by a stable club could provide Richardson with the right tools to reignite his managerial career.
Luke Williams
The final option is current Notts County manager, Luke Williams. The 43-year-old recently guided the Magpies to promotion from the National League via the playoffs after an enthralling battle with Wrexham for the title.
Prior to this, Williams worked as a development coach at Brighton, where he managed the U21s and reserve sides, before taking his first role in management at Swindon. Of course, some fans wouldn’t want a former Robins manager to take over at Oxford, but he did relegate the club into League Two!
From there, he had roles as Bristol City U23s manager and was assistant for Russell Martin at both MK Dons and Swansea, with all three roles involving a similar style to that of Manning.
He returned to management with Notts County and his side are currently fifth in the table after 17 games.
