Sacking head coach Des Buckingham was in the best interests of Oxford United, club chairman Grant Ferguson has said.

The U’s parted ways with Buckingham on Sunday following their defeat to Sheffield Wednesday leaving them without a win in their last six Championship games.

Buckingham, 39, took on the role in November 2023 and led the club to promotion to the Championship for the first time in 25 years with a memorable 2-0 play-off final win over Bolton Wanderers at Wembley.

While stating Buckingham’s importance in “one of the best days in the club’s history”, Ferguson said he and the board “firmly believe that our current position and recent form are not reflective of the potential this squad holds”.

“Many factors are taken into consideration with decisions like these but, ultimately, results are the defining factor,” he said in a statement, external.

“Given performances over a number of months, and following the recent defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, we as the board agreed that a change had to be made now.”

Ferguson said he was committed to recruiting the “right person” as new head coach and the club would look to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window.

“Since my appointment as chairman in the summer of 2022, the board, [CEO] Tim Williams and I have been very clear about our ambition: to establish Oxford United as a stable and sustainable Championship club,” he added.

“Whilst we are now in the Championship, we acknowledge that there is still much work to be done.

“We will forever be grateful to Des for helping us reach this point, but we believe that in order to protect the best interests of the club, this decision needed to be taken.”