{"id":656304,"date":"2025-06-29T15:16:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T19:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=656304"},"modified":"2025-06-29T15:16:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T19:16:21","slug":"oxford-united-stadium-deadline-ruben-rodrigues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/06\/29\/oxford-united-stadium-deadline-ruben-rodrigues\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: Stadium Deadline, Fixture Release and Midfield Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another week and another lot of Oxford United news<\/a> for us to bring you.<\/p>\n

This includes an update on the stadium decision, fixture news and a first major departure.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: New Deals, Defender Departure and Indonesian Tour<\/a><\/p>\n

Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: Stadium Deadline, Fixtures Confirmed and Ruben Departs<\/h2>\n

New Date on Stadium Decision<\/h3>\n

On Monday, Oxford released a statement<\/a> confirming the date for a decision to be made on the future of their potential new stadium.<\/p>\n

It reads: “Oxford United can confirm that Cherwell District Council planning department is in the final stages of completing their report for the new stadium proposals.<\/p>\n

“Following the latest review, the club are continuing to work with the Council\u2019s team with the aim of securing a positive recommendation for the development plans. Oxford United\u2019s planning application will be heard by the Cherwell District Council planning committee on 31 July.<\/p>\n

Jonathon Clarke, Development Director at Oxford United, said: \u201cWith the recent review showing our responses are nearly complete, we can all focus on securing a positive recommendation for our plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made it very clear that meeting the July planning committee date is critical if the club are to maintain the required timeline to secure our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final Friendly Announced<\/h3>\n

Also on Monday, the club announced that their final pre-season friendly will take place at home against M\u00e1laga.<\/p>\n

The second-tier Spanish side visit Grenoble Road on Saturday, August 2, just a few days after CD Leganes also visit the county.<\/p>\n

The former Champions League quarter-finalists take on the U’s just one week before the new Championship campaign begins.<\/p>\n

Oxford United ‘Taking An Interest’ in Barnsley Midfielder<\/h3>\n

Oxford are one of four Championship clubs showing interest in Barnsley midfielder, Jon Russell, according to Football League World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old reached impressive numbers for the Tykes last season, scoring 11 goals and adding two assists from 46 appearances.<\/p>\n

As a result, Oxford, along with Derby, Blackburn and Stoke, are all keen on the versatile midfielder ahead of the new Championship campaign.<\/p>\n

The Jamaican international is out of contract at the end of next season, so the League One side may be looking to cash in this summer.<\/p>\n

Fixtures Announced<\/h3>\n

Oxford begin the 2025\/26 season with a home game against Portsmouth. The U’s then travel to Hull and Birmingham before welcoming Coventry and Leicester before the international break.<\/p>\n

Gary Rowett’s side welcome Southampton at Grenoble Road on Boxing Day before a trip to Ipswich on New Year’s Day.<\/p>\n

Oxford end the season at Millwall, which follows the final two home games against Wrexham and Sheffield Wednesday, respectively.<\/p>\n

Oxford to Welcome Colchester in Carabao Cup<\/h3>\n

Oxford were drawn against Colchester in the first round of the Carabao Cup.<\/p>\n

The match will take place at Grenoble Road, with all first-round ties taking place week commencing August 11.<\/p>\n

It will be the first meeting between the two clubs since an FA Cup clash in 2003.<\/p>\n

Ruben Departs<\/h3>\n

On Thursday, there was a surprise departure as Ruben Rodrigues joined Brazilian top-flight side, EC Vitoria.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old, who spent two seasons with the U’s following a move from Notts County, scored 13 goals in 95 outings.<\/p>\n

Four of those goals came last season in the Championship which, given he was playing fifth-tier football before joining Oxford, is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

Young Oxford United Star Signs First Professional Contract<\/h3>\n

On Saturday, Oxford confirmed that Youth Academy graduate Leo Snowden put pen to paper on his first professional contract.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old, who became the club’s youngest player after making his debut in a 5-0 win over Chelsea Under 21s in the EFL Trophy back in November 2023, scored an impressive 35 goals for the U18S last season.<\/p>\n

Speaking after signing his new deal<\/a>, he said: \u201cEvery young footballer wants to receive their first contract. Now that this has been achieved, there is a lot of work to do to push on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis contract doesn\u2019t mean I now have a career. I need to do everything I can to push myself to the next step.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to get closer to the first team and work as hard. The ambition is to make an appearance for the first team in the next season, and I will be doing my best to show that I can be at the highest level possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a really strong season last year, but the targets now get higher. I want to score more goals than I did previously and make the next steps forward with the club.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another week and another lot of Oxford United news for us to bring you. This includes an update on the stadium decision, fixture news and a first major departure. Read More: Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: New Deals, Defender Departure and Indonesian Tour Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: Stadium Deadline, Fixtures Confirmed and Ruben Departs New Date […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335,"featured_media":656311,"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-656304","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\/656304","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=656304"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656313,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656304\/revisions\/656313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}