Janine Bailey, from the Oxford United Supporters Panel, told the BBC: “He’s given us some of our greatest memories over the last few months.

“We hit a really bad patch earlier in the year and again he turned it around, and I think, as fans, emotionally we just felt that Des deserved a chance to go on and do that.”

She added: “If you’re going to get rid of a manager like Des, who is such a community manager for Oxford, there has to be a really good reason to do so, and the one thing that Des didn’t bring to us was Championship experience and experience of getting through a dogfight at the bottom of the Championship table.”

A message to the BBC news website said: “Best wishes to you Des. Going forward, an experienced head coach and a few new players that can compete in the Championship may just keep us there.”

But others described the sacking as “terrible”, “utterly disgusting”, and “madness”.

Paul Peros said: “I think you’ve just got to look at the positives and say thank you for what will be the memories of a lifetime.

“But the brutality of football, a results business, [is] we’re now looking forward.”