Oxford United have confirmed the appointment of Karl Robinson as their new manager, confirmed by Sky Sports.
Robinson left Sky Bet League One rivals Charlton by “mutual consent” earlier on Thursday, with the Londoners in the midst of a takeover.
The former MK Dons boss has now brought an end to new Oxford chairman Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth’s lengthy search for a replacement for Pep Clotet, who was sacked in January.
Chairman Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth was pleased to welcome Karl to the U’s “We are really pleased that Karl has agreed to join the club. He is one of the brightest young managers in the game; people forget that he is still only 37 because he has been manager in over 450 games already. He knows this league and the one above, he knows the players and I am sure he will do a great job for us.”
“The Oxford fans have been very patient but I hope they agree that this is a very exciting appointment for the club.”
Karl told Oxford’s club website “Oxford is a fantastic club and the new Chairman is very ambitious to continue the great work that has been going on here over the last few years.”
“I have seen the plans for the new training ground, heard where the club sees itself going, and I have seen what a talented squad we already have here. My job now is to help those players get back to winning games regularly between now and the end of the season.”
“We start with a big game at Portsmouth on Sunday, so I can’t wait to get started.”
Oxford fans seem happy about the appointment of Karl Robinson but disappointed not to get a manager with the “wow” factor.
https://twitter.com/Will_OUFC/status/976098116708503552
Nothing should surprise me in football but I'm perplexed regarding some of the negativity towards hiring Karl Robinson as #OUFC manager.
Is there a 'WOW' factor? Maybe not. But Michael Appleton never arrived with much enthusiasm, did he? Look at how his reign turned out…
COYY
— Dan Church (@DJChurch94) March 23, 2018
I'm delighted that my #oufc timeline is almost completely behind Karl Robinson. After the farce of so called 'wow' managers i'm glad we have one who built his name by developing young talent, rather than buying old foreign journeyman pros. Good luck KR, we have your back.
— Johnny Lyle (@johnlyle) March 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/sjblackwell/status/977094459413364737
Those complaining about not having a ‘wow’ manager. Have a look at the league table. We’re 5 points off of going down. We don’t need some big name charlie coming in and turning everything upside down. Stability is what we need. Robinson brings that I bucket loads #oufc
— Snelly (@snellgrove97) March 22, 2018