Current Staff Matt Bloomfield

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Matt Bloomfield

Position: Head Coach
Nationality: England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Signed: 9th Jan 2026
Departed: DATE
Previous Clubs: Colchester United, Wycombe Wanderers & Luton
 
Twiggy85 said:
Completely agree - Rowett did a great job last year, but always felt that he thought he was doing Oxford a favour by managing us.
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I wouldn’t quite say that, but he did seem to treat it as just this year’s job. His leaving message was gracious but read like something sent by a well liked contractor finishing his year’s contract.
 
werthersoriginal said:
I wouldn’t quite say that, but he did seem to treat it as just this year’s job. His leaving message was gracious but read like something sent by a well liked contractor finishing his year’s contract.
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Felt like he felt like you signed players that i cant use, so he changed style, formations to find a solution. Nothing really worked and then it all became inevitable. The view we should have said thanks after Swansea in May was a comment made with hindsight but absolutely correct.
Today the believe returned for players and fans.
 
Wasn’t my choice ( I thought it was a terrible appointment) but I can’t argue with 5 points in 3 games and frustration that it’s not 7.

Seems to be getting more out of the players and so far it feels like win if we can but don’t come away with anything less than a point….
 
Marston Road Yellow said:
Wasn’t my choice ( I thought it was a terrible appointment) but I can’t argue with 5 points in 3 games and frustration that it’s not 7.

Seems to be getting more out of the players and so far it feels like win if we can but don’t come away with anything less than a point….
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not sure how it could be a terrible appointment before he has even started
 
Wycombe fan here - wishing you an absolutely brilliant finish to the season. A couple of things about Bloomfield:

1. People often miss the context in his career so far. At Colchester, he steadied a sinking ship and was League Two MOTM before coming back to us at Wycombe. At Luton, he took a while to find his feet, but from March onwards had them 3rd in the form table in the entire division.

2. I doubt anyone on here cares (fair enough!) but our new rich owners ripped the heart out of the club. Bloomfield (and others) were treated abominably even when he had us TOP last season over the money of Birmingham and Wrexham, playing the best football we have ever seen (he is no Ainsworth). The behind the scenes tales (from a variety of very trustworthy sources) are absolutely baffling. It has led to many Wycombe fans being disgusted with the club and losing a bit of interest. Which is more 'Wycombe' - the chap who played 557 times for us and was on course to become our greatest ever manager, or some brand new rich nepo-baby and his clueless buddy?

3. He is a genuinely lovely bloke. He was so loved by the fans during his 20-odd year tenure as a player, and though he was never our best player, he set such a fine example as a human being. He is someone who you can be proud to have representing you.

4. That all being said, he is unashamedly ambitious. Last year he was flavour of the month for a while, having some high-profile pieces written about him when we were flying high, and even being invited to dine with Gareth Southgate to pick his brain. So, you can trust him when he says he is happy to be there, and will give his all, but if things were to go well, he will definitely want to test himself higher.

Either way, I'd never thought I'd say this, but if Oxford stay up I'll be punching the air!
 
Shev said:
Wycombe fan here - wishing you an absolutely brilliant finish to the season. A couple of things about Bloomfield:

1. People often miss the context in his career so far. At Colchester, he steadied a sinking ship and was League Two MOTM before coming back to us at Wycombe. At Luton, he took a while to find his feet, but from March onwards had them 3rd in the form table in the entire division.

2. I doubt anyone on here cares (fair enough!) but our new rich owners ripped the heart out of the club. Bloomfield (and others) were treated abominably even when he had us TOP last season over the money of Birmingham and Wrexham, playing the best football we have ever seen (he is no Ainsworth). The behind the scenes tales (from a variety of very trustworthy sources) are absolutely baffling. It has led to many Wycombe fans being disgusted with the club and losing a bit of interest. Which is more 'Wycombe' - the chap who played 557 times for us and was on course to become our greatest ever manager, or some brand new rich nepo-baby and his clueless buddy?

3. He is a genuinely lovely bloke. He was so loved by the fans during his 20-odd year tenure as a player, and though he was never our best player, he set such a fine example as a human being. He is someone who you can be proud to have representing you.

4. That all being said, he is unashamedly ambitious. Last year he was flavour of the month for a while, having some high-profile pieces written about him when we were flying high, and even being invited to dine with Gareth Southgate to pick his brain. So, you can trust him when he says he is happy to be there, and will give his all, but if things were to go well, he will definitely want to test himself higher.

Either way, I'd never thought I'd say this, but if Oxford stay up I'll be punching the air!
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Thanks for the informative post.

We've already noticed tonnes of positives about him, but for me it's his communication style, passion, contagious positive energy and ability to send belief into the team. In a footballing sense I've been really impressed with how we've defended since he's come in and the way he sets the team up and makes subs to the right players.

Things feel like they are moving forward now and it's a complete breath of fresh air after Rowett's unspirited tenure.
 
Shev said:
Wycombe fan here - wishing you an absolutely brilliant finish to the season. A couple of things about Bloomfield:

1. People often miss the context in his career so far. At Colchester, he steadied a sinking ship and was League Two MOTM before coming back to us at Wycombe. At Luton, he took a while to find his feet, but from March onwards had them 3rd in the form table in the entire division.

2. I doubt anyone on here cares (fair enough!) but our new rich owners ripped the heart out of the club. Bloomfield (and others) were treated abominably even when he had us TOP last season over the money of Birmingham and Wrexham, playing the best football we have ever seen (he is no Ainsworth). The behind the scenes tales (from a variety of very trustworthy sources) are absolutely baffling. It has led to many Wycombe fans being disgusted with the club and losing a bit of interest. Which is more 'Wycombe' - the chap who played 557 times for us and was on course to become our greatest ever manager, or some brand new rich nepo-baby and his clueless buddy?

3. He is a genuinely lovely bloke. He was so loved by the fans during his 20-odd year tenure as a player, and though he was never our best player, he set such a fine example as a human being. He is someone who you can be proud to have representing you.

4. That all being said, he is unashamedly ambitious. Last year he was flavour of the month for a while, having some high-profile pieces written about him when we were flying high, and even being invited to dine with Gareth Southgate to pick his brain. So, you can trust him when he says he is happy to be there, and will give his all, but if things were to go well, he will definitely want to test himself higher.

Either way, I'd never thought I'd say this, but if Oxford stay up I'll be punching the air!
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Appreciate the reply. I think he has already gotten the player's and the fans respect and I think is genuine with his enthusiasm for what he wants to see from this squad. As far as the ambitious part goes, I personally do not have a huge problem with it:

Way I look at it is: It is his career so why not test himself as much as he can? Also, it will mean he was highly successful with us to get such an opportunity so that is another way to look at it.

In the meantime, eager to see what else he can do with this squad, especially the new boys.
 
isibuko said:
Totally agree with this but want to point out that this is the same thing that Liam Manning gets a load of s**t for on here.
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If Bloomfield moves onto a bigger job then that means he has kept us up and got us up the table next season, he needs to do that before anyone looks at him after what happened with Luton. So that’s a very good thing and I will be happy with that. However as football fan I will also be happy get the inflatable snakes out when he returns, all part of the panto.

In his favour he does have the fact that he is more likeable than Manning, who despite doing well here always came across as cold blooded.
 
He looks like he will be a great part of our history.
Hopefully keep us up and head for mid table next season, and see us into the new ground
 
I mentioned the word energy a lot when Rowett was coming to the end - he sucked the life out of everything. Time will tell whether Matt has the skills to go further than a good start but he has ticked the most essential box which was to quickly shift the energy from the doldrums of “we don’t belong here” up to something more in line with “we can and will be here”. It was the single most important thing from the appointment we made and fair f*cking play to him, he’s achieved that in just one week.

And FWIW, tactically I was more impressed with the home draws than most. We should’ve won at least one (Mills should bury one if not both), but the way he’s knitted together a tragic, leggy-looking defensive unit so quickly is mightily impressive. I think attacking expression will come, and we saw more of it at Leicester. Keep in mind we have Donley and Jin-Woo to throw back in to it yet, and if Bloomfield & Dodds are somehow able to unlock the forgotten ones like Mark Harris then we’ll have a very good shot at this. I can see visible improvement in virtually every individual player that’s played this week and still a couple to add.

Don’t underestimate the significance of a win like yesterday. It’s only 3 points, but probably fast tracks weeks worth of relationship building and getting the players to buy in to his way. Still an enormous task ahead but I think he’s going about it brilliantly from the outside perspective.
 
As has been said, for Bloomfield to be poached it’ll be highly likely he’s kept us up and then had a good start to the 26/27 season. That said, he comes across as quite a thoughtful and level headed guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he stuck around longer than some might expect because he’s had his fingers burnt. His stock would continue to rise if he did have us battling it out in mid table, anyway. It’s harsh to say, but I’m also not sure how many of the ‘big clubs’ would look at him, favouring a more ‘fashionable’ manager.
 
Can't remember if I mentioned it previously, but I met Matt Bloomfield before our game with Luton a year ago. I was helping out behind the scenes and an hour before kickoff he went around to make sure that the families of the Luton players were in and being looked after. He then took a few minutes to talk to us and other support staff and to wish Oxford well.

This was just before a huge game that could have ultimately defined both of our seasons, but showed him to be a genuinely nice guy and one who was able to take a moment out from the pressure of a game to check on the welfare of others.

Being nice doesn't equate to success on its own. But it is a trait that is often overlooked but hugely important when building success on and off the pitch. The more I see of Matt, the more I think that this is the perfect match and one that will bring success in the short term (staying up) but also for a few more years to come.

And talk of ambition and jumping ship is nonsense. I want people around our club to be ambitious. I want Peart-Harris to not want to be playing in League One next year. I want Cam Brannagan to talk about taking us into the PL. And I want our manager to be having dinner with Gareth Southgate and anyone else he can learn from. I want that drive and ambition from everyone, including somd of our fans who are only ever one game away from throwing in the towel.
 
Swaby39 said:
I mentioned the word energy a lot when Rowett was coming to the end - he sucked the life out of everything. Time will tell whether Matt has the skills to go further than a good start but he has ticked the most essential box which was to quickly shift the energy from the doldrums of “we don’t belong here” up to something more in line with “we can and will be here”. It was the single most important thing from the appointment we made and fair f*cking play to him, he’s achieved that in just one week.

And FWIW, tactically I was more impressed with the home draws than most. We should’ve won at least one (Mills should bury one if not both), but the way he’s knitted together a tragic, leggy-looking defensive unit so quickly is mightily impressive. I think attacking expression will come, and we saw more of it at Leicester. Keep in mind we have Donley and Jin-Woo to throw back in to it yet, and if Bloomfield & Dodds are somehow able to unlock the forgotten ones like Mark Harris then we’ll have a very good shot at this. I can see visible improvement in virtually every individual player that’s played this week and still a couple to add.

Don’t underestimate the significance of a win like yesterday. It’s only 3 points, but probably fast tracks weeks worth of relationship building and getting the players to buy in to his way. Still an enormous task ahead but I think he’s going about it brilliantly from the outside perspective.
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You’ve put into words what iv been thinking.
He speaks a lot about making connections with the players with the fans and in such a short space of time the whole mindset seems to have changed for the better. His positivity has gone a very long way. There will be ups and downs for sure but to me he has bought more than just the new manager bounce.
Charlton away to Leicester away what a change.
 
isibuko said:
Totally agree with this but want to point out that this is the same thing that Liam Manning gets a load of s**t for on here.
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It baffles me when people aren’t happy that people are looking to advance their careers. If the manager doesn’t do well it’s not like the fans won’t want them gone is it?
 
I'll be honest - prior to him joining, I made poor judgements about him based on the amount of games he played for Wycombe and the clubs he managed previously.

Boy was I so wrong about him as a human being and I'm really proud to have him as our head coach based on what I've seen so far. Hearing all these stories about his character are great and shows that he's consistent with his actions which are so important yet so rare in this day and age.

He's light years ahead of Manning and his 'behaviours' and Rowett who never believed in himself or the squad (unless he's talking in hindsight on a podcast of course).
 
Early signs really good. I think he seems quite balanced as a head coach and maybe has an early handle on what makes us tick as a football club.

I’ve heard all the usual stuff about us being a small club, not having the quality required etc and I was on the verge of believing the noise.
Our transfer window has seen us acting like a proper club so far in January and we can be hopeful of a couple more quality additions I think.

Put yourself in the shoes of Jamie Cumming and Ciaron Brown for eg. from August until quite recently they have seen us being played through quite easily, and being a defender myself, it’s very demotivating when your strikers, and midfielders keep on losing their duals in front of you.

Invariably over the last 3 games, we have been combative and switched on. I believe you defend from the top and it’s inspiring seeing Peart Harris winning his headers, Jamie Mac throwing himself in to the battles etc…it focuses your efforts.
 
Gregortheox said:
I loved when MB ran at the fans….it looked a bit like when Richie from Bottom gets up and runs around the kitchen…,
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At first I had no idea who it was running towards us in a tracksuit like a maniac at the end - was it Tyler Goodrham, or a mascot who had slipped the security? Then I realised it was our manager! Brilliant stuff.
 
Another great and reassuring interview on the Dub. There are some Manning-like elements, but he has far more character (a low bar I know). He is realistic about the challenges, and acknowledges that he needs to compromise on his ideals in the short term.
 
isibuko said:
Totally agree with this but want to point out that this is the same thing that Liam Manning gets a load of s**t for on here.
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What Manning struggled with is maintaining a healthy combination of ambition and humility.

We won’t have Bloomfield for ever, but I’m pretty sure when he leaves he will show the latter, in spades.
 
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