Tyler Goodrham has made no secret of Oxford United's ambitions for the new League One campaign: the U's want promotion, and they want it now.

The 22-year-old midfielder, speaking to BBC Radio Oxford ahead of Saturday's opening home fixture against MK Dons at the Kassam Stadium, was refreshingly direct about where the club sees itself heading after last season's relegation from the Championship.

"We want to go up," Goodrham said. "We want to get promoted like everyone does. We expect that from ourselves but we're also not naive in knowing that there are good teams in this league so we have to be on it every game and every day in training."

It is the kind of quote that press officers love and opposing managers file away for later. Goodrham is plainly aware of that tension, and his follow-up had enough caveats to suggest he has been around football long enough to know the third tier does not hand anything to anyone, regardless of recent history.

A personal fresh start

For Goodrham himself, the new season carries an additional charge. He suffered an ankle injury in Oxford's defeat at Ipswich Town on New Year's Day and subsequently required surgery, missing the second half of the campaign entirely. It was, by his own admission, a miserable spell. The club were relegated without him, and there was presumably little consolation in watching from the treatment room.

"I was gutted last season that I couldn't play and help to keep the club up," he said, "but it's a fresh start for me."

He returned to action last Saturday in the EFL Cup, which at least confirmed the ankle has held up through pre-season. That will matter considerably more once the League One fixtures begin to stack up.

Precedent worth noting

Goodrham is an Oxford academy product and was a notable contributor during the promotion campaign of 2023-24, when Des Buckingham's side went up from this division. He scored 10 goals in 51 appearances that season, a return that placed him among the more productive midfielders in the third tier that year.

He is candid about the standards he sets for himself. "I remember when I first came in, that first year in League One where we were trying to go up, I had high standards for myself to go and be the creator and goalscorer. I always have that expectation on myself."

Whether Oxford can genuinely mount a promotion challenge will depend on considerably more than one midfielder's form. Clubs who drop from the Championship arrive in League One with experience, often with squads still containing second-tier quality, but also with wage structures that can become unwieldy and a dressing room that needs recalibrating. The early weeks will be instructive.

Opener sets the tone

Saturday's home match against MK Dons is a reasonable early test. The Kassam crowd will want to see a side that looks pointed upward rather than one still processing the disappointment of relegation. If Goodrham is fit and sharp from the off, that will at least give Oxford's supporters something tangible to take home from the opening day.

The promotion talk, for now, is exactly what fans returning for a third-tier season after the brief taste of Championship football will want to hear. Whether the squad can back it up across 46 games against opponents who will have heard it all before is the question the table will eventually answer, with or without anyone's permission.

Frequently asked

Are Oxford United targeting promotion from League One this season?
Yes. Midfielder Tyler Goodrham has publicly stated that promotion is the squad's aim, though he acknowledged the quality of the other clubs in the division.
Why did Tyler Goodrham miss most of last season?
Goodrham suffered an ankle injury in Oxford's defeat at Ipswich Town on New Year's Day and required surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the campaign.
When do Oxford United start their League One season?
Oxford open their League One campaign at home to MK Dons at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday, 16 August 2026.