Why I Quit Huddersfield for Oxford

The reason I quit Huddersfield to manage a team from three leagues below is really quite simple; I felt that I’d taken Huddersfield Town as far as I possibly could, and have also always been a massive fan of Oxford.

I was born and bred an Oxford United fan, and quitting Huddersfield for Oxford was therefore a pretty easy decision for me to make. Had I guided Huddersfield to the Premier League then I definitely wouldn’t have left, the fact of the matter is though that I lacked the strength in depth to achieve anything massively impressive at Huddersfield, and although I did win the League One play-offs in my second season in charge, and at one stage look as though I was going to make the play-offs in the Championship also; a poor string of results saw my club slump to a finishing position of 19th, and even in finishing as high as that we probably overachieved.

I had a few decent players at Huddersfield, overall though my squad just wasn’t good enough for the Championship, and when key players were injured we just didn’t have any adequate players to cover them. What’s worse was that my wage budget was massively cut for my second season in the Championship, and this therefore would have meant that I’d have needed to axe some of my top stars, and rely on my inadequate cover in order to keep my team in the Championship. I desperately needed to sign some new players, but that just wasn’t an option, and the only way I saw the club heading was down.

With Oxford I have a fresh opportunity to work my magic, and a chance to once again achieve promotion. Oxford has never left the Blue Square Premier in the game so far, but my aim is to change that, to help my club become bigger and better, and to restore my interest in Football Manager by giving myself a fresh challenge. I like to manage for as many seasons possible once I’ve started a career in Football Manager, and don’t like to just start up a new save game once I’ve put so many hours into a career.

Taking on Oxford United is a way for me to breathe a burst of fresh life into my Football Manager career, and hopefully it’ll now do the trick and I’ll be able to achieve success with Oxford.