Current Staff Matt Bloomfield

[Northstandboy]

Matt Bloomfield

Position: Head Coach

Nationality: England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Signed: 9th Jan 2026

Departed: DATE

Previous Clubs: Colchester United, Wycombe Wanderers & Luton

Stats: TransferMarkt

Instagram: matt.bloomfield10

 

[The Voice Of Reason]

It doesn't matter what type of football the fans want.
We want championship football and above.

So he needs to grow a pair and play the way it suits the players at his disposal on the day and against the team in front of them it's not hard!

As I said on his appointment he wasn't for me, I said I hoped he proved me wrong. He hasn't.

He needs to look at himself, dig down and rework things, it's only 5 points and loads of games left, and no one around us is pulling up trees but if the GR to Blackburn is correct that's a worry- as he can do it and has a point to prove against us

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

 

[Lost Marbles]

Rowett got some things right: a small, disciplined, well drilled squad. An attitude of keeping games tight first and foremost.

Where he went wrong is the recruitment / pre-season (mostly not his fault, although... Bradshaw) and an inability to take the shackles off when we needed too. There were many, many games when you could see midway through that we were likely to lose by the odd goal and rolling the dice towards the end (switching to a high press attack) would likely have resulted in more points overall.

Many people said that what we actually needed for the second half of the season was a fresh, motivated Rowett, which was one thing we definitely couldn't have!

Despite only registering 24 players, we've now got a squad that is both bloated and has gaps in it (partly due to injuries).

I can see Bloomfield's reasoning regarding the high press: the only source of comfort when watching Norwich beat Coventry recently was that they did occasionally give the ball away in dangerous areas. On the flipside, they tore through Coventry at the back multiple times (not just the two goals) and this was obviously a game where pace and calmness were a prerequisite at the back.

I think we would have struggled to get anything against this in form Norwich side whatever we'd done, but Bloomfield basically handed them the game from kick off. The line up was completely inexcusable, which is why so many of us are fuming with him. The only plus point watching it was that all hope was extinguished after 20 minutes which meant I could enjoy my Old Hooky and crisps in a more relaxed manner than usual, albeit while swearing at the tv quite frequently.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Rowett got some things right: a small, disciplined, well drilled squad. An attitude of keeping games tight first and foremost.

Where he went wrong is the recruitment / pre-season (mostly not his fault, although... Bradshaw) and an inability to take the shackles off when we needed too. There were many, many games when you could see midway through that we were likely to lose by the odd goal and rolling the dice towards the end (switching to a high press attack) would likely have resulted in more points overall.

Many people said that what we actually needed for the second half of the season was a fresh, motivated Rowett, which was one thing we definitely couldn't have!

Despite only registering 24 players, we've now got a squad that is both bloated and has gaps in it (partly due to injuries).

I can see Bloomfield's reasoning regarding the high press: the only source of comfort when watching Norwich beat Coventry recently was that they did occasionally give the ball away in dangerous areas. On the flipside, they tore through Coventry at the back multiple times (not just the two goals) and this was obviously a game where pace and calmness were a prerequisite at the back.

I think we would have struggled to get anything against this in form Norwich side whatever we'd done, but Bloomfield basically handed them the game from kick off. The line up was completely inexcusable, which is why so many of us are fuming with him. The only plus point watching it was that all hope was extinguished after 20 minutes which meant I could enjoy my Old Hooky and crisps in a more relaxed manner than usual, albeit while swearing at the tv quite frequently.

Old Hooky and crisps you say? I still had hope after 20 minutes, if we'd scored before half time and sorted out the formation it would have been game on.

 

[Village-Yellow]

Well, I guess with GR gone and on the assumption that our board had the ability to appoint a better replacement, that fantasy has well and truly come home to roost.

What an absolute cluster f**k we have become.

 

[Slade Yellow]

Now that I have calmed down (sort of), I can honestly say the worst thing about last night was not that we lost.
I don't think the squad we have is good enough- although most of the January players look pretty decent, and there has been a general upgrade imo.
It was the way that we lost- we looked completely chaotic from minute one.

The only game under KR that was that poor was Bristol Rovers- under Rowett it was Charlton.
Both final games for managers that had (for different reasons) run out of puff.
Bloomfield hasn't even hit ten games and this is how we performed?

Good managers have a structure to their teams- this was a mess from the word go.
I don't even think the players knew what they were supposed to be doing.

I wrote yesterday that I was at Wilder's first game- the players were really average, but you could immediately see that each player knew what his job was and where to go. That is what good managers do- they manage, organise, direct and motivate.

I saw no sign of that last night- in fact, the opposite.
That performance reminded me of games under the most clueless manager we have had in the last 20 years- Clotet.

Our only chance of staying up this season was a manager who utilised average players well and put them in a clear structure- someone like Rowett.
We'll never know but would Rowett have kept us up with these slightly better players? Possibly. Will Bloomfield keep us up? No.

This is the worst of all worlds- a nice, well meaning bloke who appears to be out of his depth at this level, will take us down- and may well not have any momentum in L1.
In other words, exactly what happened at Luton- and we still appointed him. Extraordinary.

It works to have a close mate in an influential position within the selection committee!

 

[Lost Marbles]

Old Hooky and crisps you say? I still had hope after 20 minutes, if we'd scored before half time and sorted out the formation it would have been game on.

I had very brief hope again when Peart-Harris got in front of their goalie just before half time and at the start of the second half when Mills came on. But it evaporated very quickly with that horrible pass putting them through.

 

[greatunclekip]

It works to have a close mate in an influential position within the selection committee!

I refuse to believe that the decision was taken on anything other than an objective view of who was best set to use their experience to keep us in the championship, and that we scoured high and low to find the right candidate.

The fact the one we got was cheap, available and willing to work within the structure is purely coincidental.

The fact he got relegated from this very league last season with a much better squad is a mere inconvenience.

I can’t imagine any Championship club would consider the relationship with the Chief Scout a key factor, for example. It just wouldn’t happen.

 

[JayOx88]

Bloomfield's performance so far has been nothing less than alarming. Even if you'd already written this season off and made the case for this being an appointment with League One in mind, right now I'd be terrified of going into a League Two campaign with him, let alone One.

Even if Bloomfield privately doesn't see any chance of us staying up, you would hope that we'd at least have been able to recognise his identity on the team by now and start seeing how he intends to mould us from an attacking perspective. But last night just showed he hasn't got a clue to do with this group of players and is making it up as he goes along.

I can't fathom how after seeing how solid we were in his first two games at home and that we had by far and away the best chances in both games, he has not looked to build on that and think how he can make tweaks to make us better in the transition. The change of shape at Leicester obviously worked, but with every passing game that looks more like an accident than design.

There was absolutely no need to put out that absolutely harrowing back four last night, just as there was no need to play the back 5 he did at Bramall Lane. We don't have a league game this weekend, you give people a breather then and tell Roosken and Spencer to give it everything for an hour to give us a platform. And don't get me started on Long playing LCB when you have a perfectly competent operator at this level in Davies on the bench.

Forget divisions we may or may not be playing in, this appointment doesn't seem to have anything in mind other than ease and convenience. This season has been a total mess at the hands of the senior management team from start to finish.

 

[Brahma]

The crux of this is not the manager, it's Ed Waldron, his seemingly lack of knowledge and experience, an appalling recruitment record and a lack of accountability from Ed, his colleagues, Tim Williams and Grant Ferguson.

The one person I feel, to an extent, sorry for is Thohir. However, if he cannot sort the problems out, then he deserves to see his investment spunked away by people who seem incapable of running a serious football club.

I raised the recruitment this time last year, the success rate is not acceptable. We've now got a situation where we are paying for hoards of players - out on loan - out of the squad, players who we're not helping (GOD) and yet continue to spend money like it's going out of fashion.

Jin Woo was brought on at 3 f*****g nil down. That's the time you put lads on who otherwise would not have been called on.

If the club have accepted relegation and aren't sustainable or want to spend to be part of the Championship, then do the right thing and confess to it. That's directed at Ferguson and Williams. We have a part time chairman who pops over on a flight once in a blue moon. Erick needs to kick them all out.

As for Bloomfield, I can't believe, we're six games in and the fanbase is turning on him. Myself included. Can't score at home, have no attacking intent whatsover despite the claims he set us up to play on the front foot - we're a pathetic football side, who last night I looked at that 11 on the pitch and tried to lift them 12 months into the future and wondered how the hell we would attack a Stevenage or a Northampton.

As for whatever we spent on Emakdu, Millwall football club have lifted Ed's leg.

Absolute p**s poor and the media trained Bloomfield did well to say the fans didn't want to hear anything from him. He's right.

 

[Bitter]

After watching the game last night and hearing what he had to say after the match, Bloomfield has to take us on a seriously good run, preferably with most games unbeaten. It probably still won't avoid relegation but at least it will give us some faith that he can at least have a crack at league 1 next season. If things carry on with square pegs and round holes with players not knowing what is expected of them, then I fear for next season too.

 

[Londox]

It's no real pittance to me Bloomfield "holding his hands up" that he got it wrong.

The fact he thought that team selection last night (and particularly that defence) was the right thing to go with is beyond worrying.

He didn't get it slightly wrong, it was just completely wrong.

Bloomfield thinking there's any point in starting Harris in a match like this. So worrying.

Football fans are prone to hyperbole but Emakhu genuinely looked like he'd won a competition to be out there. One of the worst individual OUFC performances I can ever remember. It was actually embarrassing to watch.

The referee was astoundingly out of his depth last night. Unbelievably s**t. But really, the writing was on the wall from the team selection onwards.

If he keeps making the same mistakes we can't keep him on for next season.

 

[90syeIlow]

It's no real pittance to me Bloomfield "holding his hands up" that he got it wrong.

The fact he thought that team selection last night (and particularly that defence) was the right thing to go with is beyond worrying.

He didn't get it slightly wrong, it was just completely wrong.

Bloomfield thinking there's any point in starting Harris in a match like this. So worrying.

Football fans are prone to hyperbole but Emakhu genuinely looked like he'd won a competition to be out there. One of the worst individual OUFC performances I can ever remember. It was actually embarrassing to watch.

The referee was astoundingly out of his depth last night. Unbelievably s**t. But really, the writing was on the wall from the team selection onwards.

If he keeps making the same mistakes we can't keep him on for next season.

I agree with most of this, but who do you play over Harris when Lankshear is suspended?

That one falls on recruitment.

 

[Londox]

I agree with most of this, but who do you play over Harris when Lankshear is suspended?

That one falls on recruitment.

Recruitment is definitely a major issue but I would also start a huge number of players over Harris as a forward.

MPH, jinwoo, Stan mills, maybe even Helik.

Id rather play someone out of position up there than Mark Harris

 

[Byrne Baby Byrne]

Even by simply swapping makosso and longy round would have improved us 10%.
Truly baffling

 

[90syeIlow]

Even by simply swapping makosso and longy round would have improved us 10%.
Truly baffling

I mean if he did that, we don’t go 1-0 down within the first minute.

For MB to set us up how he did, not change it immmediately after they scored and then to admit that part of his lineup was based on what supporters want is embarrassingly amateur and it’s no wonder that ran through in to the performance last night.

 

[The Voice Of Reason]

He obviously talked a good interview and with mates on the panel, and not being 1st choice, 3rd id heard and got the job.

The issue is talk is cheap, actions are not all

 

[carefreeoufc]

It's no real pittance to me Bloomfield "holding his hands up" that he got it wrong.

The fact he thought that team selection last night (and particularly that defence) was the right thing to go with is beyond worrying.

He didn't get it slightly wrong, it was just completely wrong.

Bloomfield thinking there's any point in starting Harris in a match like this. So worrying.

Football fans are prone to hyperbole but Emakhu genuinely looked like he'd won a competition to be out there. One of the worst individual OUFC performances I can ever remember. It was actually embarrassing to watch.

The referee was astoundingly out of his depth last night. Unbelievably s**t. But really, the writing was on the wall from the team selection onwards.

If he keeps making the same mistakes we can't keep him on for next season.

I stuck up for Emakhu and I'll do it again. I agree that last night, for the most part, he had an absolute shocker! That said, he's come into an absolutely shambolic team, who last night were set up in the most shambolic way possible. His back pass was the icing on the cake, but experienced pro's in our team have made the same mistakes this season. I think there is a player there. Millwall fans aren't the easiest to please and most seem to give him a reasonable amount of praise.

I can name quite a few bad individual performances that surpass his last night. Tyler Burey in L1 springs to mind (also ex-Millwall as it happens).

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

 

[carefreeoufc]

Even by simply swapping makosso and longy round would have improved us 10%.
Truly baffling

As somebody else had said on the MTD (I think??). If Rowett had started with that starting eleven in those positions, there'd be calls that he was trying to lose to get the sack. Such was the insanity of his team selection. It's made even more mental when you consider the players probably only had Monday to actually work on it.

 

[Londox]

I stuck up for Emakhu and I'll do it again. I agree that last night, for the most part, he had an absolute shocker! That said, he's come into an absolutely shambolic team, who last night were set up in the most shambolic way possible. His back pass was the icing on the cake, but experienced pro's in our team have made the same mistakes this season. I think there is a player there. Millwall fans aren't the easiest to please and most seem to give him a reasonable amount of praise.

I can name quite a few bad individual performances that surpass his last night. Tyler Burey in L1 springs to mind (also ex-Millwall as it happens).

I'm willing to give Emakhu a chance, but last night was a horror show.

 

[BrockBuster]

Reality is people generally should learn from mistakes and it's how they come back from them that they should be judged.

Rowett didn't seem to learn from his. Bloomfield has made a few but too early to say whether he'll learn or not. If he doesn't, we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Jaboysmith]

Reality is people generally should learn from mistakes and it's how they come back from them that they should be judged.

Rowett didn't seem to learn from his. Bloomfield has made a few but too early to say whether he'll learn or not. If he doesn't, we'll find out soon enough.

The thing is, it is not like it was an unavoidable mistake, or really one with any apparent logic to it. I would have been willing to forgive a wrong formation that is then re-adjusted, last night he just played 3 of the back 4 out of position, when it was so easily avoidable

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

If he’s on a rolling contract as suggested last night then at least it will make it easier to move him on once relegation is confirmed & appoint a new manager for League One.

Someone like a Woodman from Bromley would appeal.

 

[greatunclekip]

If he’s on a rolling contract as suggested last night then at least it will make it easier to move him on once relegation is confirmed & appoint a new manager for League One.

Someone like a Woodman from Bromley would appeal.

It was an appointment with League 1 in mind.

If you are recruiting to stay up to the best of your ability you don’t hire someone with 6 months experience at the level ending in a relegation. Players look at nights like last night, they look at last seasons Luton, and it’s not surprising they are probably questioning the man in charge and his capabilities.

Someone like Rowett has a back record of moderate success to lean on, which makes it a lot easier for players to trust the methods..

It was a bizarre appointment then, and it is certainly proving to be the case..

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

It was an appointment with League 1 in mind.

If you are recruiting to stay up to the best of your ability you don’t hire someone with 6 months experience at the level ending in a relegation. Players look at nights like last night, they look at last seasons Luton, and it’s not surprising they are probably questioning the man in charge and his capabilities.

Someone like Rowett has a back record of moderate success to lean on, which makes it a lot easier for players to trust the methods..

It was a bizarre appointment then, and it is certainly proving to be the case..

I don’t think it’s an appointment with League 1 in mind if it’s a rolling contract as that would suggest he would be easy to move on in a few months.

 

[Eric Blair]

Reality is people generally should learn from mistakes and it's how they come back from them that they should be judged.

Rowett didn't seem to learn from his. Bloomfield has made a few but too early to say whether he'll learn or not. If he doesn't, we'll find out soon enough.

I think that is a good point. It’s how he learns from it.

Two decent solid performances early on, and then Leicester and then Coventry. Between those games there have been poor performances but in a team that consistently can’t put two good games together then that is no surprise.

Yesterday was shambolic. MB has said he will learn from it. I’m hopeful that he will.

 

[m]

Absolute p**s poor and the media trained Bloomfield did well to say the fans didn't want to hear anything from him. He's right.

Did very well to say the fans didn't want to hear from him after saying that this [yesterday's] formation was to appease fans wanting the Oxford way.

It's already a long way back from here.

 

[BS32]

I think he has to incorporate all of the new players into the starting eleven when everyone is fit, fed up to the back teeth of continually failing players starting games, that would be a start to getting fans onside, Harris, Placheta, Vaulks to name just 3 are nowhere near good enough, also think Cam probably not up to level unfortunately.

 

[90syeIlow]

I think he has to incorporate all of the new players into the starting eleven when everyone is fit, fed up to the back teeth of continually failing players starting games, that would be a start to getting fans onside, Harris, Placheta, Vaulks to name just 3 are nowhere near good enough, also think Cam probably not up to level unfortunately.

Harsh on Placheta. Despite his limitations he works hard and gives us a pace outlet as well as the occasional goal, whereas Vaulks and Harris offer much less on a more consistent basis.