Oxford United Coach Buckingham Acknowledges Wilder’s Impact

Oxford United head coach Des Buckingham has stated his belief that the club’s current position might not have been achieved without the contributions of Chris Wilder. On Tuesday, the U’s are set to face Wilder’s Sheffield United in a Championship match, a fixture that will see Buckingham compete against the individual who first appointed him to a senior coaching role. Wilder brought Buckingham into his first-team coaching group before the 2013-14 season, when Buckingham was 28, after he had spent time within the club’s academy. During his nearly six-year tenure at the Kassam Stadium, Wilder successfully guided Oxford back into the EFL, an achievement for which Buckingham believes everyone should be grateful. “Chris Wilder was the first manager who brought me into the senior coaching space so I’ve got a lot of time for him just for that alone,” Buckingham informed BBC Radio Oxford. He added, “I look back now as the head coach of this football club and look at what Chris did at a hugely important time in 2010 to get us back into the Football League and it was a moment where I don’t know if we’d be where we are now if he hadn’t have done that.” Buckingham’s Oxford squad will travel to Bramall Lane experiencing a challenging period, having lost four of their last five Championship fixtures, including a significant 6-2 defeat to Middlesbrough on Saturday.