It's been a day of surprises and not-so-well-kept secrets at Oxford United, as the squad gets a mini-shake up. The first piece of news to break was the least surprising, as United's second-choice goalkeeper Chris Tardif announced that he was retiring from the professional game. Instead, he has apparently been offered a proper job with a mate, and may continue playing football on a part-time basis. Tardif has long been discontented at United, pretty much ever since Brian Talbot brought in Billy Turley and ousted the Supporters Player of the Season as the number one. He put in a transfer request midway through last season, but no other club came in for him, and he recently intimated that he was considering leaving the game.

It was fairly obvious that Tardif's time was up when he was spotted in apparent distress after United's win at Altrincham, where Tards came off the bench to replace Turley, who had injured his hamstring. Tardif then played in the next game, at Grays Athletic, where he kept a clean sheet, but lost his place as soon as Turley was fit again. He was then not included in the squad that travelled to Histon, where Oxford unusually played with no substitute goalkeeper.[@player]tardif, chris[/@player]

Oxford presumably knew of the decision before it was announced publicly, as later on today the club announced the signing on loan of Leicester City back-up goalie, Alex Cisak. The 18-year old has already trained with Oxford, and presumably did enough to convince Jim Smith to offer him a one-month loan deal. Meanwhile, and the biggest surprise of the day, it was announced that Marvin Robinson, who started both of United's last two games and who was lauded by Smith after the Aldershot defeat, has been loaned out to Conference rivals Cambridge United. Cambridge only have two fit strikers, and their manager Jimmy Quinn apparently heard “on the grapevine” that Robinson would be available for loan, and signed him for three months, which takes him neatly almost up to the January transfer window. Robbo has not endeared himself to United's fans, despite his obvious workrate, due to the lack of end product. However, Quinn believes that with the right service Robinson could be a threat, especially in the air.

The departure of Robinson could herald that Gary Twigg, injured in the 0-0 draw at Stevenage Borough, could be ready to come into the squad for tomorrow's game against Salisbury City (preview tomorrow morning, probably). Twigg scored in each of his first three appearances for United, and the club has certainly missed having a player with his poaching ability. Also getting ready to make a return to first-team action, although not imminently, are Phil Gilchrist and Chris Willmott. United have arranged a friendly at Milton United tomorrow week (2 October) with the aim of allowing the two defenders some much-needed match practice. It's possible that United's other longish-term injury victim, Joel Ledgister, could also feature in the game, which is open to the public and kicks off at 7.30. Luke Foster, who has not played since Smith sent him and Robinson home for arriving late at Stevenage, is also likely to play, as will the two youngsters on short-term contracts, Dave Malloy and the formerly ROS Ben Weedon.