That List With Names On It

From the moment the final whistle of the final match sounds, the majority of fans around the country turn to thinking about their clubs retained list. It’s a bit of a strange concept, the definition of the word “retained” is “Continued to hold ownership or control of something” yet in football, a retained list largely contains details of all those players who their clubs do not want to hold ownership of i.e. they are released at the end of their contract without the offer of a new one or are available for transfer or loan. Some clubs are nice and confirm which players remain contracted, whilst others leave it up to a bit of detective work that ultimately gets as complex as “Have they been listed as released > No > Therefore under contract”

In Oxford’s case, today we got our list with ten names on it and it was solely those out of contract and not being offered a new one. Were there any surprises? In all honesty, no there wasn’t. Five of the group had ended the season out on loan elsewhere, two of them had never played in a first team league game whilst the remaining three were fairly obvious to let go given the drop in division.

Tom Bradshaw leaves with just 4 starts to this name after being brought in by Gary Rowett in January 2025. He clearly got nowhere near proper match fitness last season and after a few sub appearances this season was sent off to Barnsley where he made 19 appearances scoring 3 goals.

Owen Dale will forever be remembered as part of the squad who returned us to the second tier after 25 years but never really made the step up and returned to League One with a half-season loan at Wigan Athletic before spending this season with Plymouth Argyle where he earned decent reviews towards the end of the season and could well sign there permanently.

Stuart Findlay finally departs us officially after not pulling a yellow shirt on for over three years. 39 appearances in the 22/23 season of massively contrasting quality saw him put onto the scrapheap by Liam Manning with two full season loans at Kilmarnock followed by a season at Hearts which could still end with him a title winner. Given the time spent chasing his signature, the fee and wages spent and the outcome, Findlay will go down as one of the worst value for money signings ever made.

Will Goodwin will join Findlay on that list as he departs the club after just 11 appearances following his arrival from Cheltenham in January 2024 for a fee rumoured to be around £400,000. Technically a promotion winner as well, his sole contribution being a very well taken goal against Northampton in February 2024. Injury ultimately ruined his time and he has spent time on loan at Wigan last season which was cut short by injury and Colchester this season. 4 goals in 34 across those two spells haven’t been enough to deem him worthy of another go with us.

Josh Johnson made his debut in the League Cup in August 2021. He leaves with just a further 6 appearances in cup competitions since then. Another player battered by injuries in-between differing loan spells in Conference South and Conference National. Johnson is someone who needs to go and play 40 games at a lower level to prove his ability.

Jacob Knightbridge we never knew. Signed from West Ham as a high potential young goalkeeper. The most we saw of him was warming up the first team keepers.

Stephan Negru probably suffered from our promotion coming to soon for his own development. After a bright collection of appearances in the 23/24 season, he was then out of the team due to injury and we subsequently won promotion. Loan spells at Salford, Bristol Rovers and Tranmere Rovers have followed meaning he has played 3x as much football away from Oxford than for us. You would expect him to pick up a League Two team with ease.

Myles Peart-Harris came in January arguably to put himself in the shop window after leaving Brentford and we saw some good and some not so good. 3 goals in 19 appearances matched his return at Swansea last season. Someone who sees himself as a Championship player so no surprise to see him let go.

Shemmy Placheta will go down as one of the most frustrating players to ever wear yellow. Infuriatingly inconsistent not just from game to game, but within games as well. Just the 41 starts across two seasons reflect that inconsistency alongside the regular occurrence of knocks that seem to have impacted his entire time in England. A good list of ‘worldie’ goals to look back on and a player who would get you off your seat. Linked to both Polish and MLS clubs, it will be interesting to see where he lands next.

The curious case of Hidde Ter Avest is also brought to an end. Another player impacted by regular injuries resulting in just 17 starts over his 2 seasons. But in those appearances you could see why he has played so much of his career in the top flights of Italy and the Netherlands. Often disappeared from the squad as a tactical decision before being brought in out of nowhere but never really given a consistent run of games by any of Buckingham, Rowett or latterly Bloomfield. With numerous contracted fullbacks for next season already, an easy option to release.

Ok great, so what is the situation?

In simple terms:

• 10 players released.
• 27 players contracted plus ‘young pros’.
• League One squad rules permit 22 over 21s to be registered in the squad cap.
• Over 21 is anyone born before 1st January 2005 for season 26/27.
• Goalkeepers don’t count to your squad cap (3 contracted)

Taking all that into account, then we have 24 players contracted with seniority above that of a ‘young pro’. 24 into 22 clearly doesn’t go, but you can immediately start going through the list and identifying those who will more than likely not be employed by Oxford United by the time the summer transfer window closes. Likewise there are a number of players who will surely attract interest from other clubs and therefore are sale risks.

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Sale Risks

Currie, De Keersmaecker, Goodrham, Mills, Spencer.

Departure Lounge

Dembele, Kioso, Leigh, Romeny, Sibley.

They Still Have A Contract?!

Marselino, O’Donkor.

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As much as Matt Bloomfield has indicated there won’t be much churn across the squad, it does feel that there are obvious candidates to leave as well as obvious areas of the squad that require improvement.

We’re already into rumour season with Fred Onyedinma of Wycombe Wanderers being linked with a reunion with his former boss Bloomfield whilst BDK has a loose link to Derby County, a club who tracked him prior to him signing for us, and will still have his reports on file.

A long summer awaits and we haven’t even seen the back of the play-offs yet