Oxford United’s Under 18s are mirroring the first team and under 23s this week with a training camp away in Devon.
The youth team, with nine new scholars this season, have been working hard under coaches Leon Blackmore-Such and Chris Hackett and Leon told us:
“It has been good. You get to see them working hard every day but you do also find out a bit more about them and see how they all interact and work alongside each other. With so many first years it is important they see the standards we expect and how we go about things here, but the attitude has been fantastic.”
The work that the Academy do was underlined by a couple of tweets from @TheNinetytwo_ yesterday:
Most League One minutes given to players 21-years-old and younger contracted to the club last season (excluding loanees):
11,778 minutes - Portsmouth
10,526 minutes - Doncaster Rovers
8,461 minutes - Walsall
7,849 minutes - Oldham Athletic
7,272 minutes - Oxford United
Most League One minutes given to players 19-years-old and younger contracted to the club last season (excluding loanees):
3,147 minutes - Peterborough United
2,968 minutes - Southend United
2,696 minutes - MK Dons
2,312 minutes - Bury
1,390 minutes - Oxford United
And finally, the under 18s fixtures for the new season have been announced.
United will play in the EFL Youth Alliance South West Division and the proposed fixtures- still to be confirmed- are:
Saturday 25th August 2018: V Swindon Town. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Saturday 8th September 2018: V Forest Green Rovers. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Saturday 29th September 2018: V Exeter City. Kick-off: 12noon.
Saturday 6th October 2018: V Newport County. Kick-off: 11.30am.
Saturday 27th October 2018: V Portsmouth. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Saturday 17th November 2018: V Plymouth Argyle. Kick-off: 12noon.
Saturday 1st December 20918: V Bristol Rovers. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Saturday 15th December 2018: V Yeovil Town. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Saturday 22nd December 2018: V AFC Bournemouth. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Saturday 19th January 2019: V Cheltenham Town FC. Kick-off: 11.00am.
Fixtures subject to change. We will update the fixture page once dates are fully confirmed.