OXFORD United have made mistakes which have contributed to a difficult season, Niall McWilliams has admitted.

The club’s managing director also believes there could be more issues to deal with before the end of the season, but is confident a plan is in place to restore confidence.

United’s struggles on the pitch, where they are in the Sky Bet League One relegation zone, have been mirrored by trouble off it in recent months.

Owner Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thanakarnjanasuth revealed last weekend he had been caught out by the level of investment required since taking over last February.

A series of unforeseen expenses, plus tighter restrictions on international banking transfers, have contributed to three winding-up petitions from HM Revenue & Customs.

And McWilliams acknowledged it had been a challenging period.

“We’ve made mistakes this year in lots of different areas,” he said.

“We have to be open and honest about that.

“We had new owners, a new MD, a new training ground which wasn’t quite ready, which had massive implications and, a new management team.

“We haven’t got some of our first-team recruitment right.

“And I think it would be fair to say we haven’t got things right organisationally and we haven’t had enough of an eye on the detail.”

In light of the problems, a revised approach is now being implemented with the aim of making the club more sustainable.

On top of giving those based in Oxford more control, much of it is about getting back to what brought success under previous owner Darryl Eales.

McWilliams believes recruitment in particular is key to rebooting the club, although at this stage he could not rule out more bumps in the road.

He said: “May there be other issues for us to deal with between now and the end of the season, both on an operational level and a financial level? Maybe, yes.

“But we will deal with them as we have done so far.”

He added: “The owners have put a significant amount of money into this club.

“I am of the philosophy that if you get your plan right, you don’t have to lose significant amounts of money in football.

“You just need a plan and you need to stick to it.

“Recruitment is one (element). We need to stick to our plan of recruiting players, developing them and trading them.

“That’s where we have to get back to.”

McWilliams stressed there were areas of the club which are thriving, particularly the academy.

And there is a determination to ensure the rest of United catches up.

“I’m positive we will get there,” he said.

“Hopefully people will stick with us over the next few months.

“We do have the best interests of the club at heart.”