OXFORD United are prepared to lose more money in a bid to keep the club in Sky Bet League One this season.

That’s the view of owner Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thankarnjansuth as the side chase reinforcements up front before the deadline a week on Thursday.

So far this month the U’s have agreed a fee to bring Mark Sykes in from Glenavon, plus loans for Jordan Graham and Ahmed Kashi.

In the opposite direction Cameron Norman has been sold to Walsall, while Tony McMahon and Charlie Raglan have been loaned out, with Sam Smith and Ricky Holmes sent back to their parent clubs.

The exits have made room for signings up front, the success of which could well be the difference between staying up and being relegated.

When asked if the board were prepared to lose more money to stay up, Tiger said: “That’s where we are now, yes.”

He added: “We bought Mark Sykes. That is an investment we planned.

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“Then there’s one or two more. If we have to invest to bring them in, we still want to do it.

“I know people have concerns about strikers, but we talk all the time about the two or three candidates we like.

“We believe they will have an impact. They’re going to score goals, simple as that.

“But some of the clubs we’re dealing with, some of them say they can’t give an answer until the end of January. We’re trying our best.”

The U’s owner admitted some of the players signed in the summer “were not what we predicted”.

Despite having what is believed to be the eighth biggest budget in the division, injury-hit United have not been higher than 18th this season and despite beating leaders Portsmouth on Saturday are only above the relegation zone on goal difference.

Tiger insists he is optimistic the side will pull clear of trouble and retains faith in head coach Karl Robinson.

He said: “Yes. I think he’s still the right man for the club.

“I have been at the training ground a lot and have seen how they train, see how they speak to the players, how they prepare technically and tactically.

“There are a lot of games that haven’t worked out how we planned.

“OK, with some injuries of course there’s a lot of impact and we played the same players for the last ten games. They looked very tired.

“But I think starting from this (Portsmouth) match on the bench we have variety of positions and it’s the strongest bench of the season.”

He added: “I still have confidence that we’ll be in League One.”