OXFORD United have missed out on their number one target to become assistant boss, Des Buckingham has revealed.

Buckingham has been working without a number two since becoming head coach midway through last month, instead relying on first team coach Craig Short and goalkeeping coach Lewis Price.

When previous boss Liam Manning left for Sky Bet Championship side Bristol City, he took with him his assistant Chris Hogg, who he also worked with at MK Dons, and first team coach analyst James Krause.

It has left the U’s light on numbers in terms of backroom staff, with Buckingham confirming that the club’s desired first choice as the new assistant head coach collapsed, therefore alternative options will now be pursued.

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Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford’s The Dub podcast: “The one that we wanted to get in unfortunately fell through over the weekend, so that’s not going to happen.

“It’s two weeks’ worth of work gone, but there are others that we’ll now turn our attention to.

“The good thing is that I know a lot of good people in the country and outside, so we’ll turn our attention quickly to those, and make sure we’ve got the support in the building that the players will need.

“Another set of eyes will help support Lewis Price, Shorty and myself.”

Analyst Isaac Alder has been further supporting the first team, with Buckingham praising him, while offering a positive update on the search for someone to fill the boots left by Krause.

“We’ve had Isaac step in, and he’s been very good,” said Buckingham.

“You’ve seen the importance of analysts anywhere now, in the last five years. Their role has drastically changed from someone that used to maybe just clip things and give you videos, to someone where the amount of analysts I see now moving into coaching because they understand the game.

“The amount of times I see managers take the analysts with them, maybe at the expense of the assistant coach.

“They play a huge role, so we’re working on making sure we get an analyst in, and we’re a lot closer in that space than we are at the moment with the assistant coach.”

Buckingham worked closely alongside Mickey Lewis and Chris Wilder when he first emerged as a coach at United more than 10 years ago.

He said: “I wouldn’t want to compare myself to them, I’d like to think I’m my own person.

“I don’t know if you need good cop and bad cop anymore, but I think what you do need is people who are going to hold you to account and hold you to the standards that we all say we have.”