3 managers Oxford United must consider following major Karl Robinson decision | OneFootball

Karl Robinson’s near five-year spell as Oxford United manager has come to an end with the club’s hierarchy finally calling time after what has been a poor 2022-23 season.

Robinson arrived at the Kassam Stadium in March 2018 on the day same he departed the U’s League One rivals Charlton Athletic, and in two of his four full seasons in charge he guided the club to the play-offs.

They fell short however at the semi-final stage in both 2020 and 2021, whilst the top six was missed out on by seven points last season – the current campaign though has been a major drop off.

Oxford sat in 17th position in League One before the visit of Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon, and a 3-0 loss to the Gas signalled the end for Robinson, who didn’t win any of his last eight matches in charge.

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A new individual will soon be appointed though – let’s look at three candidates who should be considered to replace Robinson.

Danny Cowley

Despite things ultimately going a little downhill in his final few months at Portsmouth, Cowley has been successful for a lot of his managerial career at whatever level he has worked at.

Pompey failed to make the play-offs in the last two seasons but League One has been very competitive, and the Oxford job is probably a step down in terms of the size of club that Cowley would be managing here if he landed the role.

He has been linked with the Colchester United vacancy in League Two this week – that would be somewhat of a coup for the U’s and would make sense as he’s from Essex, but League One is more his level and Oxford have a decent squad he could work with.

Leam Richardson

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In perhaps one of the harshest sackings of the season, Wigan Athletic parted company with Richardson back in November, just weeks after signing a new contract at the DW Stadium and a few months after he led the Latics to the League One title.

Richardson stepped into the Wigan hot-seat when they were in the middle of administration, saved the club from relegation to League Two and was then given the chance to build his own team – one which ended up being better than anyone else in the third tier in 2021-22.

Yet after a dip in form before the FIFA World Cup break, Richardson paid the price with the loss of his job – that cannot define him however and with a good mix of young talent at the Kassam Stadium, Richardson could have the perfect chance if he’s offered the opportunity to get his career back on track.

Michael Appleton

Some say never go back, but Appleton had a successful three-year spell at Oxford between 2014 and 2017, working well with lots of young talents and utilising the loan market to the best of his ability to get the club back to League One.

Appleton won a promotion and got to two EFL Trophy finals with the U’s in his three years at the club, and following time spent as an assistant at Leicester and West Brom after he departed, he found his feet in management again at Lincoln City, taking them to the League One play-off final in 2021.

His most recent stint at Blackpool did not go well but you could say he wasn’t backed accordingly – despite that being on his record you’d fancy him to make an impact if he was called back for a second stint at the Kassam Stadium.