Oxford United have further strengthened their backroom team with the arrival of Shaun Derry as First Team Coach.

Shaun, 40, enjoyed a long and distinguished playing career that saw him make over 650 senior appearances for the likes of Notts County, Sheffield United, Portsmouth, Crystal Palace, Leeds United and QPR before he moved into management with Notts County and Cambridge United.

He joins Karl Robinson’s backroom team and will work alongside Derek Fazackerley in advising Karl, who told us:

“I think it’s a great appointment and we welcome Shaun to the club. We haven’t worked together before but I like that: everyone speaks very highly of him and he impressed me when we talked through what we wanted to achieve here. He has been a Manager and that appeals because he tells it like it is. I need people here who are open to new ideas, honest, hard-working and want to work as a team.

“Shaun has over 1,000 games under his belt as a player and manager, Derek Fazackerley obviously has an unbelievable number of games and when you add it up the three of us have plenty of experience and have also won promotions and been successful at every level of the game.“

Shaun told us:

“It’s a club with a vibrancy about it right now. Karl has done great since he came in and I’m looking forward to working with him and Derek, as well as Chris Allen and all the coaches and backroom team. It just felt like the right club to be joining right now. You look at the way the club plans to move forward, you see the new training ground and know that it will be a major asset and you can feel that things are moving in the right direction.

“I’m excited to get started now. Obviously we have pre-season games against two of my old clubs, Crystal Palace and Leeds, and those should really whet the appetite for what I am sure will be a successful season in League 1.”

See the full interview in iFollow.