Gary Rowett admits his Oxford side ‘need help’ in the transfer windows after boos from fans in the 1-0 defeat to Charlton on Saturday.
Charlie Kelman’s strike was the only goal of the game, helped the Addicks seal all three points, a big win that sees them sit 17th in the Championship table with 27 points from 21 games played, and 8 points above the drop zone.
For the U’s meanwhile, they’re in the drop zone, with 19 points from 22 games played, two points from safety, but sides above them (Portsmouth and Blackburn) have a game in hand.
Gary Rowett said, per Oxford Mail: “It felt as though it was a pretty even game; I didn’t think there was a lot in it.
“I don’t necessarily think Charlton were better than us but also don’t think we were better than them.
“One moment of quality for the goal and we couldn’t find that. We huffed and puffed a little bit. I thought first half we actually played quite well for an away performance. I thought we had some control, got into some good positions but without really creating much more than a shot from distance or a rushed effort.
“The group clearly needs a little bit of help in January.
“They’re an honest group. They work hard but we’re just struggling to find that little bit of a difference in this division without someone like Cameron [Brannagan] in the team. That’s what we’re missing really.
“You only have to look at our goal scoring list to know that we haven’t got enough players in and around the level that we need.
“It’s hard to win games when you’re always looking for that one moment. You need three, four, five players to step up in different games and come up with different moments to go and win you points.
“At the moment, we’re struggling to find that. Whether that’s a little bit of confidence, whether it’s that we don’t quite have the momentum we had last season when we came in.
“Most of the players have had a good opportunity and whilst I think we’ve been incredibly competitive in this division, we just haven’t quite had enough to win enough games and that’s the simple truth.”
“We’ve got to stick together.
“I can understand the crowd’s reaction, but it is what it is. It’s not particularly helpful in the moment but I understand their frustration.
“I don’t necessarily think being personal helps, but I understand if they’re disappointed with us not winning games, I get that.
“If we go down that route, then it’s going to clearly mean one thing.”
🗣️ Some ramblings after an incredibly disappointing afternoon at The Valley. 😞#OUFC 🟡 pic.twitter.com/tHs9NtleXu
— malachi (@MalachiObrey) December 20, 2025
Charlton’s Nathan Jones, per the club website: “We were very professional, and we displayed top-end quality today.
“We’ve been built on clean sheets, solidity and doing the basics very well, and we had to get back to that. We did that last week as well.
“We showed real character last week and I was proud of last week’s performance. We needed to back that up today and we did, and there was a lot of key ingredients in what we did today.
“We’re keeping one in three clean sheets on average, and that’s with three of our best defenders out injured. It shows the structure we have, and we have a real good group.
“We had gamechangers that came on and affected the game – we played front -ooted, we kept a clean sheet, and the crowd were magnificent.
“I’m proud of my relationship with the fans. We’ve asked them to be patient and stay with us and they have. We thank the fans for the trust they have with us, and I wish them all a Merry Christmas!”
Here’s the reaction on Twitter as Gary Rowett admits his struggling Oxford side ‘need help’ in the transfer window after hearing boos from fans in the 1-0 defeat to Charlton on Saturday…
@IsaacOUFC: He has to go now, worse PPG than Des had, again gets the team selection wrong. How he leaves Currie and mills on the bench again I will never know. What is his obsession with M Harris. We are a sinking ship with Rowett. The board need to make the change now or it’ll be league one
@Marc_G_OUFC: I understand people wanting change, but how the fuck are the players and the recruitment team getting a free pass? Both are fucking honking #oufc
@Brad_Pittick99: After watching that its safe to say nows the time to part ways before it gets toxic. Horrendous football. Players look lost. Subs are far too late. No style or patterns of play. Somethings gotta change soon or we’ll be booking a place in league one by February #OUFC
@danielfreeman83: Not gonna lie, still feeling pretty angry about all aspects of Saturday. Just not very Christmassy. Lack of any plan on the pitch resulting in tempers boiling off it. Best player was a RB playing RWB in his first game for 2 months. The decision makers have one to make. #OUFC
@ZWellburn: Never been this sick of watching my football club. How as a fan can you get excited to watch that every week. We’ve been going backwards since the start of the season and we’re at a point now where I can’t see a world where we stay up. Sickening AGAIN #oufc
@danishoufc: nothing to lose at this point, he has to go tonight. As good as down if this carries on
@golddyson246: GET HIM GONE
@Callum_OUFC: I’m not having the January window is coming as an excuse not to sack Rowett. Good players will be able to play different systems. There’s the budget factor but you sign more in the BDK, Davies, Spencer mould rather than the Bradshaw mould. What I mean by the above is no manager other than Gary would want Bradshaw at this level, whereas many would love BDK, Spencer, Davies, Lankshear etc etc. Adaptable and versatile players is smart recruitment. Giving the manager FULL power is not.
@RaggedDan: I feel like this is only one of a couple of truly upsetting results this season; as delusional as this may sound, we’re punching above our weight most weeks and with our budget we’re exactly where we perhaps should be. The ultimate test is January and what the club does with it.
@Oxf_fien: All I want for Christmas is a new manager
@quim_ninja1978: It’s time for the manager to go. I could take losing every week as long as we are trying to win games. Under Rowett, we are just trying not to lose and we aren’t good enough to do that. If we are to go down (and we will) let’s go down fighting at least!
@LukeNigel_: Been away over the weekend so didn’t see the game, reaction from all fans says it all. Completely understand why fans want GR gone. Not that anyone particularly bothered on my opinion but going to post it anyway 😂 Results haven’t been good enough, that’s clear to see and we seem to lack any ideas and cohesion atm, that ultimately is a huge issue. The record speaks for itself and 1W in 10 is a sackable offence for most managers in the football league. I think this is a different scenario. we’re crying out for a manager like GR was when he first walked in the door, got us playing back to basics and being hard to beat, kept us in games and showed lightly more attacking threat, it worked. This year, we can’t get any consistency. I still think sacking GR increases our chances of going down, however it does help shape the team for the future, we could get a young manager in (like Skubala) and let him build his project. It most likely would take us down, but the idea would be next year we have a manager that’s had two transfer windows and the squad will be settled to battle again in L1. If we returned to the championship we’d be an overall stronger side with a bigger identity! IF we were to sack Gary Rowett, I’d rather take the gamble from overseas to try and find the next Danny Rohl or someone like that. Lars Friis, Michel Kniat or Ruben Den Uil would be some i’d look at, and if it goes wrong, take a safer bet with the next one. #OUFC
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