OXFORD United’s new co-owner and chairman have assessed the club’s ponderous start to the season.

The U’s return from the international break having not played since the 2-1 defeat at home to MK Dons on September 17.

Three wins and five defeats from their opening nine matches in Sky Bet League One see United sit 19th in the third tier, two points above the relegation zone.

The club’s protracted change of ownership was announced on Tuesday, with Indonesian investors Anindya Bakrie and Erick Thohir finalising a deal which sees them take a controlling 51 per cent stake in the U’s.

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Grant Ferguson, who was appointed a director of the club earlier this year, will assume the role of chairman.

He has been working with the club behind the scenes for several months.

Ferguson, who was on the board at Inter Milan from 2014 to 2017, when Thohir owned the club, evaluated the team’s performance during the opening months of the campaign.

He said: “My view to Karl [Robinson] was that at the end of the season, we want to get promoted and the easiest way to get promoted is to go direct and not deal with the play-offs.

“That admittedly is looking difficult but we’ve just got to get into the play-offs now and then ride our luck.”

Asked whether the current squad and management team have his backing, Ferguson said: “Frankly, it’s not even been a matter for debate.

“The injury situation must be unprecedented, certainly I can’t think of another example like it.

“We’ve all agreed we’re coming to a reset, the players are coming back and now we move forward.”

Bakrie said while he would like to see United further up the league table, players and management had his support.

“We all see the same thing, data is data,” he said.

“We don’t want to be here, we want to be higher up.

“We’ve seen the opportunities. Even during our time in the last four years, we have been doing much better than before.

“This is early days, we’ve got to give them a chance.

“Maybe what’s happened can give them good spirit and more flexibility to be more innovative and creative in the future.”

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United have been slow starters in League One in recent years, yet have still managed to reach the play-offs in two of the past three campaigns.

The U’s reached the play-off final in 2020, losing to Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley, before reaching the top six again in the 2020/21 season.

That year saw United defeated by Blackpool in the play-off semi-finals, with the club finishing eighth in League One in the 2021/22 campaign.

Earlier this month, club captain John Mousinho judged the club’s start this year.

He said: “Expectations are really high at this club, external and internal as well.

“We accept that, we want to get out the league, we’ve been very close in the last three seasons to achieving that.

“Our ambitions are exactly the same and when you’re closer to the relegation zone than the play-offs, there’s natural disappointment.

“We’re willing to accept the pressure, we heap that upon ourselves more than anything.”