Gary’s gone (photo: Steve Daniels)

If it’s Christmas, it must be time for a new manager at United.

The end of Gary Rowett’s tenure at the U’s comes with Oxford in the relegation zone following a lame defeat to Charlton Athletic. The game was played to the accompaniment of United fans calling for Rowett’s dismissal as the side mustered a single shot on target with a team selection that was clearly wrong for the job at hand, a not unusual occurrence in the past few weeks.

Following a week in which Oxford drew with Middlesbrough and Blackburn before beating Ipswich Town, this good form was to go to waste, with a number of baffling decisions by the United manager, culminating in a post-match interview at the Valley that pretty much ensured his departure.

It wasn’t a surprise that he was shown the door, despite his heroics last season in keeping United in the Championship. This season though, despite arguably having a stronger squad, the side has never been that convincing.

People will point to the fact that, apart from defeat to a dominant Stoke City side and, unforgivably, to relegation rivals Swansea, United’s defeats were all by a single goal, while they drew against high-flying sides like Coventry, Leicester (at the time), Millwall, and Boro, as well as beating Derby and Ipswich at home and Bristol City and, er, Sheffield Wednesday away.

However, despite these single-goal defeats, performances have generally meant that the results flattered the U’s, especially in the last couple of months.

Now, obviously, attention turns to Rowett’s replacement. Does the club already have someone in mind? Are they prepared to pay a release fee to prise a target from their current club or are we going down the strictly free-agent route?

Current odds, which are pretty much the bookies naming anyone they can think of and aren’t based on anything resembling logic or likelihood, have people like Liam Manning and Alex Bruce as favourites, while the list also includes John Mousinho and Des Buckingham. Are any of these likely to be serious candidates? Mousinho possibly, although he is under contract to Portsmouth, a club in similar dire straits to United.

It is undeniable that the job will be an attractive proposition, certainly to those currently without a club. Whether Erick Thohir is prepared to select from a list of those who apply or if he (guided, no doubt, by the likes of Ed Waldron and Derek Fazackerley) opts for someone identified outside of the process, remains to be seen. As with Rowett’s appointment, it is vital that the club gets the right man. Preferably someone who has the wherewithal to keep the club in the Championship or, failing that, someone who would be likely to mount a promotion challenge next season to restore second-tier status.

In the meantime, United are going into the busy Christmas period under the care of the current coaching team (minus Mark Sale, who has left with Rowett). Craig Short, Chris Hackett, and Lewis Price have been here before, with mixed success, but with their own ideas maybe they can provide the necessary stability to guide the side over some important games until the new man (or woman, let’s not prejudge) rocks up into the vacant manager’s office at the training ground.

Unlike some of the football that’s been on offer recently, it’s never dull being an Oxford fan.