1985/86

Flip player to see back

League:

Level

Canon League Division 1

Position:

18th

FA Cup:

Third Round

League Cup:

Winners

Chairman:

Robert Maxwell

Manager:

Maurice Evans

Top Scorer:

John Aldridge (31)

Notable Players:

John Aldridge, Gary Briggs, Billy Hamilton, Jeremy Charles, Trevor Hebberd, Ray Houghton, David Langan, Les Phillips, Peter Rhoades-Brown, Malcolm Shotton, Neil Slatter, John Trewick.

Kit Manufacturer

With Oxford United now in the top flight of English Football, kit suppliers were keen to be a part of Oxford's success story. Umbro was the largest manufacturer of that time, with both England and Scotland's national teams wearing Umbro kits at this time

Sponsor

Wang, an American business computing company became the new club sponsor, replacing the various Maxwell businesses that had featured over the previous 3 years.

Home Kit & Away Variations

Long
sleeves

Umbro provided Oxford with quite a different look, with a pale custard shirt and dark navy trim. The shirt design was near identical to Scotland's 1985 away shirt at that time.

The alternative yellow shorts and socks were a bright yellow and didn’t match the paler yellow shirts particularly well.

Away Kit

No long
sleeves

The all-white change colours were enhanced with shoulder panels depicting the pale yellow and navy colours of the home kit.

Sadly, this smart design was to feature just once during the season.

Goalkeeper Jersey

Sponsor Variation

Long
sleeves

From the end of September, shirts featuring a larger sponsor logo became the primary set.

Strangely, a set of white long-sleeved shirts with the larger sponsor featured during the pre-season, but these never featured in a first-team fixture.

Occasionally, the yellow set with the smaller Wang logo would make a reappearance, which usually coincided with a midweek game. Perhaps this helped ease the laundry turnaround?

League Cup Final (Milk Cup)

To date, Oxford United’s greatest achievement is undoubtedly winning the League Cup at the old Wembley stadium. Oxford outclassed Queens Park Rangers, winning 3-0 in front of a sell-out crowd and millions on national television.

In true cup final tradition, commemorative shirts were produced with embroidered text.

The sponsors logo was positioned lower on the chest, it was also a simple text-only version. This was probably to maximise the letter size for such a large TV audience. (Remember in those days there were only four TV channels).

Players were provided with both long and short-sleeved shirts, but all preferred short sleeves for this glorious spring day.

Match By Match

West Brom
Away

Tottenham
Home

Leicester
Home

Birmingham
Away

Sheffield W
Home

Coventry
Away

Man Utd
Away

Liverpool
Home

Shrewsbury
Home

Newcastle
Away

Northampton
Home

Man City
Home

Leicester
Away

Everton
Away

Northampton
Away

Luton
Home

Chelsea
Home

Fulham
Away

Watford
Away

Newcastle
Home

Aston Villa
Away

Stoke
Away

West Ham
Home

Arsenal
Away

Norwich
Home

Ipswich
Home
Kit Clash

N Forest
Away

Chelsea
Home

QPR
Away

Tottenham
Away

West Brom
Home

Chelsea
Away

Southampton
Home

Tottenham
Home

Tottenham
Away

Man Utd
Home

Sheffield W
Away

Portsmouth
Home

Coventry
Home

Birmingham
Home

Chelsea
Away

Aston Villa
Away

Man City
Away

Aston Villa
Home

Luton
Away

Newcastle
Home

Liverpool
Away

QPR
Home

Southampton
Away

Aston Villa
Home

Watford
Home

West Ham
Away

QPR
Wembley

Ipswich
Away

Everton
Home

N Forest
Home

Arsenal
Home

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