Oxford United’s head coach spent the second half of 2017 with Stoke City, then in the Premier League, as a coach with their Under-23s side.

Buckingham left the Potters to become head coach of the New Zealand Under-20 team, but his time in Staffordshire left an impression on him.

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He said: “I spent a season at Stoke when they were in the Premier League back in 2017, when Mark Hughes was there, and then Paul Lambert came in.

“It’s a really big club, and a club that was in the Premier League. I think we can say that about most of the teams we play now.

“I’ve seen the infrastructure that they have. The training ground, the facilities, resources, and players that they’ve certainly brought in over the summer.

“It’s a really well set-up club, and an organised club that allows those players to do what they do.

“We could say that about most, but the most important thing is that we know what we are, and what we’ve got, and we try to utilise the best of that.”