Midfielder wants U's to use lowly bookies backing as fuel next season

Yahoo

8 hours ago

WILL Vaulks wants Oxford United to use their lowly backing by bookmakers and pundits as fuel going into next season.
The U's upset the apple cart last season, finishing 17th upon their return to the second tier for the first time in 25 years.
United were regarded as firm favourites for relegation, and that hasn't changed going into the 2025/26 campaign.
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Vaulks said: 'People have us on to get relegated. I would use it as a fuel. Let's show people that we won't be down there, but at the end of the day, I understand it.
'We were in a really bad spell with points at one point of the season, and then we picked up. It is what it is. That stuff doesn't really matter.
'It matters what happens in the building and how the players feel. I know this club is very ambitious and wants to be higher up the league.
'I've been at clubs in the past, and no disrespect to them, they didn't have that ambition and didn't want to rise up the way that this club does.
'They want to do it properly and I'm really excited for next year. It's really important that the manager's got this chance now to have the time with the players in pre-season. It'll definitely be a hard pre-season, that's for sure.
'We don't want to be in the position that we were last year. We want to be pushing up the table and getting to points where you can look above you instead of looking below.'
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If the U's are to push higher up the league next season, then smart recruitment in the summer transfer window will likely be a key ingredient.
Vaulks said: 'Most managers probably want quality over quantity, I would say. We've got quite a lot of bodies, and I don't know the ins and outs of the recruitment, but we've got quite a lot of bodies and it'll just be about the manager trying to add the quality.
'Players coming to us now, it felt a risk coming, I admit that from a stable Championship club to here, but now players will look at it and go 'you know what, Oxford are serious'.'