KARL Robinson remains a key part of Oxford United’s future and will be backed in the transfer market this summer.

That’s the vow of chairman Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thanakarnjanasuth, who even raised the possibility of signing a target shortly which would set a new club record for wages.

In the aftermath of the U’s Sky Bet League One play-off final defeat, the head coach had sought clarification over the club’s future direction.

Robinson warned this season’s momentum would be squandered if the club did not build this summer.

But Tiger, who was answering questions from supporters on BBC Radio Oxford, said: “We’ve had recruitment and planning meetings – Karl is a central part of everything we do.

“We started something good here and nothing’s changed.

“We still want to work with Karl and he will stay. I still believe we can win promotion together.”

He added: “Let me spell it out – the board is truly committed to building not just a great team but also a great club.”

Time is of the essence, given the players report back for pre-season training in early August.

United are understood to have made a bid for Linfield winger Joel Cooper, while they have also made contact with Matty Taylor about turning his loan move into a permanent one.

Tiger, who is based in Thailand, said: “I told Mark (Thomas, United’s head of recruitment) and Karl during this period I will not turn the phone off, they can call me at 2am to get the deal done.

“We’d like to bring them in the over the next two or three weeks, because this is the shortest summer ever.”

He added: “Sometime this week we will see two or three permanent players that we’re working on.

“I believe if nothing goes wrong one of them will be the club record for wages. There is money available for us to sign players.”

That does not mean United, who are expecting to lose Rob Dickie this summer, are likely to embark on a spending spree given they have not been immune to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tiger told the Oxford Mail: “We do things very conservatively and make sure the money we spend is going to 100 per cent benefit the club.

“We’re going to make sure the team is strong. We’ll have the same aim again this season.

“We have to be flexible and move quickly because I think the current climate is different.”