This season saw the introduction of the Oxford United Women’s Development Team. Manager George Anthony (pictured on the right) has successfully steered the ship during his team’s inaugural season, and he spoke to us about what it’s been like to lead his side during such an eventful year for everyone.
“The players have been fantastic,” George mentioned. “We haven’t been able to have as much contact when we worked online, but I think all round we did our best – whether that’s staff or players. We made sure to keep up the players’ fitness to so that we were still focused when we returned to the pitches after lockdown. I can’t fault the players at all, they did everything which we asked of them and more.
“We are still in the first year of working as a Development Team, so we were relatively new to each other, but everything which we asked of the players as coaching staff they executed well and to the best of their abilities.
“We’re helping players make that step between our academy and the First Team, because it’s a massive jump. We’ve had players this season move up into the First Team during the FA Cup run, we’ve had players attend First Team training regularly, we’ve had RTC players progress and make their debuts for us, and there will be more RTC players which we will be looking to join us as we move into pre-season. I think this just shows the importance of having the Development Team as that next step on the pathway of progression.
“Personally, this season has been full of emotion, but in a good way. For myself, to be able to lead a team at this level is a fantastic opportunity, so thank you to the staff for allowing me to have the opportunity to step up into this position. Tthis season has probably gone as well as we could hope it would, minus the coronavirus situation. That’s made it tougher, but we’re not the only coaching staff in that situation. But for how things went, I couldn’t have asked for this season to go any better; we’ve got a great bunch of players and I think the staff from both the First Team and Development Team have been fantastic.”
The First Team are in action again on Sunday at home to Nottingham Forest – kick-off at 1pm.
Supporters can cheer on their side one last time this season as tickets are FREE and can be booked online by CLICKING HERE*, instead of paying to see the game you can donate to local charity Ronald McDonald House, who will have representatives collecting at the game.
*Your online ticket must be presented at the turnstile, as well as the requirement to scan the NHS track and trace app upon arrival. Details will be taken if unable to scan the NHS track and trace app, however we recommend fans to scan upon arrival to ease queue times.