Oxford United - A Revival

It is unlikely that fans of modern football will know much about Oxford United and their history. A team that once won the League Cup in 1986 (or the Milk Cup, as it was known then) and played in what would today be known as The Barclays Premier League. There is a reason they are not talked about by many these days, however. At the end of the 1993-1994 season, they were relegated to the Second Division. Unfortunately, they then dropped down another division at the end of the 2000-2001 season after a 35 year absence from the Third Division. Disaster struck for fans of the club when they were relegated to non-league football at the end of the season 2005-2006. After five seasons spent flirting with a return to The Football League, they sealed promotion in 2010-2011, with a victory over York City at Wembley. The match finished 3-1 and a record crowd was set for the final. 42,669 fans turned out to watch the game, and a staggering 33,000 of them being Oxford Fans. Now, after two seasons hanging around the top half of the Sky Bet League 2, will promotion be on the cards for the team, and wil they ever get back to the top division?

It was announced earlier today that former Oxford United, Chelsea and England U-21 centre back had been hired by United to be Chris Wilder's assistant manager. Wilder, who signed Duberry for the club, had spoken highly of the ex-defender, who also played for Reading, Leeds, Stoke and St Johnstone throughout his career. Wilder said this about Duberry: "What can I say? His determination, and his influence he had on the rest of the lads while he was here was brilliant. I couldn't have asked for a better bloke to have been hired." However, in a bizarre turn of events, that saw Wilder beg chairman Ian Lenagan to sack Duberry after Wilder "could not get the attention onto him" because Duberry was what Wilder called "an attention seeker from the moment he returned", Wilder was sacked. Duberry has been appointed as full time manager of the club, with Mickey Lewis, who was sacked to let Duberry join the staff team, returning as the assistant manager. Now it is Duberry who will be challenged with the task of trying to win promotion this season, and with Lenagan's backing and the support of the fans, who he had built a strong rapport with during his time as a player, there may be a large possibility of this happening.