{"id":655448,"date":"2025-06-08T03:56:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T07:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=655448"},"modified":"2025-06-08T03:56:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T07:56:21","slug":"oxford-united-sam-long-deal-romeny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/06\/08\/oxford-united-sam-long-deal-romeny\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: Long Deal, CEO Comments and Romeny Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another busy week for Oxford United<\/a> with Sam Long signing a new contract, CEO comments and international representation.<\/p>\n

Read More:<\/strong> Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: International U\u2019s, Defensive Target and Rowett on Budget\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: New Deal, New Stadium, New Hero<\/h2>\n

Sam Long Pens New Deal<\/h3>\n

On Monday, Sam Long penned a new contract with his boyhood club.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old came through the academy, having joined at the age of nine, and has been with the club for 13 years in professional terms.<\/p>\n

The defender made his debut in League Two in 2012 and helped the club reach the Championship last summer.<\/p>\n

Having turned out over 270 times, he said<\/a>: \u201cI am so proud to play for Oxford United. This club has been my life for as long as I can remember.<\/p>\n

“I have given absolutely everything for the badge since I first pulled it on at the age of nine in the academy, and I\u2019m excited to give more in the years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no hesitation at all when it came around to signing a new deal. This is the only place I want to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been privileged to be part of this club for all 13 years of my professional career. From League Two to Championship, it\u2019s been an incredible journey which has many more exciting times ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this has been made possible without your unbelievable support throughout my career. Now, as ever, I will continue to do everything I can to lift our club forward together.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘The Future of the Club Hinges on the New Stadium’<\/h3>\n

Oxford CEO Tim Williams has reiterated that a positive recommendation to proceed is of critical importance to the future of one of English football\u2019s most historic clubs.<\/p>\n

He said<\/a>: \u201cWhen our lease at the Kassam Stadium runs out, we won\u2019t have a home and a stadium to play in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t have a stadium, there is a risk we won\u2019t have a football club.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get more serious than that for a football club. We have seen headlines recently about a new Manchester United stadium, which, with all due respect, is a want and not a need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Manchester United don\u2019t move out, they still have Old Trafford. If Everton hadn\u2019t moved into Bramley Moor-Dock, they\u2019ve still got Goodison. If we don\u2019t move into a new stadium, we are homeless and we don\u2019t exist and it\u2019s an absolute travesty in my view. It\u2019s that important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need support, but we also need to say, the point about the club potentially not existing is a real one. This needs to be moved up every headline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are entering a crucial period in the club\u2019s history. The future of the club hinges on the new stadium, and I\u2019d urge every supporter, every stakeholder, and every voice to get behind this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘We Want to be Pushing Towards the Top Half’<\/h3>\n

Oxford striker Mark Harris believes the club can push for a top-ten finish next season.<\/p>\n

The U’s finished 17th in their first Championship season in 25 years but their form under Gary Rowett showed significant signs of improvement.<\/p>\n

He said<\/a>: \u201cThe last two seasons have been brilliant. To get promoted and then come into the league, and stay in it as well, we\u2019re all close enough now to realise what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about kicking on now next year. We want to be pushing towards the top half, top 10, and hopefully we get there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got written off this season. Everyone but Oxford supporters and players had us 24th. We were written off last year and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be written off again, but I\u2019m fine with that.<\/p>\n

The Wales international striker added: \u201cThe aim was when I came to Oxford to get promoted, but obviously you don\u2019t know whether that\u2019s going to happen or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season was unbelievable and this year our aim was not just to be safe, but push as high as we can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew the situation we were in, we knew the league we were in, and we achieved what we set out to do.<\/p>\n

Romeny Scores as Indonesia Beat China in World Cup Qualifier<\/h3>\n

Ole Romeny netted this third goal for Indonesia as they won 1-0 against China in a World Cup qualifier.<\/p>\n

The Oxford striker scored from the penalty on the stroke of half-time and kept them in contention for qualification.<\/p>\n

Leigh Features for Jamaica<\/h3>\n

Greg Leigh was also away on international duty and played the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over the British Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n

The result means the Reggae Boyz have won three from three in their World Cup qualifier group and they face joint-leaders Guatemala on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another busy week for Oxford United with Sam Long signing a new contract, CEO comments and international representation. Read More: Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: International U\u2019s, Defensive Target and Rowett on Budget\u00a0 Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: New Deal, New Stadium, New Hero Sam Long Pens New Deal On Monday, Sam Long penned a new contract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335,"featured_media":649558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8430,33,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oxford-united","category-championship","category-league-football"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655448"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":655451,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655448\/revisions\/655451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}