The 35-year-old was appointed head of football development this summer, with the academy manager role he took in November 2022 expanding to include the girls and women’s programme.

Kinniburgh initially joined the U’s as a player in August 2009, when he signed on loan from Rangers. He joined permanently in May 2010, before leaving in January 2012.

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On his new position, he said: “It’s a role I’ve been wanting to get into and to get my teeth into.

“It’s still looking after the boys’ academy, but taking in the women and girls, and linking up closely with the community programme, and how they’re looking to try and be that bottom end entry point into both the boys and the girls, but also looking at the bigger picture on development across the football club.

“The training ground as we can see needs a bit of work done here, and we want to grow into a Category 2 academy, so we need to get a 3G pitch onsite.

“A lot of the work I’ll be doing will be around that, and improvements here, and then just obviously player development as a full stop.

“It doesn’t just stop with the boys’ academy and girls’ academy. It’s how do we develop people, how do we develop staff, and how do we develop players across the whole club?”

Kinniburgh added: “Understating what’s going on, and the strategies in all the different areas of the club, you need to know these things and you need to understand them, so when I’m making decisions and bringing things to the board, I have a clearer understanding of the wider picture.

“The day-to-day is for head coaches and other people to worry about and get on with. My job is to look at how do we actually develop people, the training ground, and everything to do with Oxford United?

“Probably 95 per cent of the stuff I do, nobody will ever see, which is exactly where I quite like to be because it gets things done.

“You can’t develop week to week, you’ve got to develop month to month, season to season, and a big part of what I’m doing currently with Grant [Ferguson, chairman], Tim [Williams, chief executive] and Ed [Waldron, head of football operations] is looking at a five-year plan, and where we want this football club to be in five years’ time.

“Put that strategy from both a financial point of view, and a footballing point of view, and then bring it together.”