The senior member of Oxford United's out-of-contract four has spoken of the anxiety caused by the club's decision to dish out deals that ended early.

David OldfieldStriker David Oldfield, 34, says that, like Bobby Ford, Steve Basham and Roy Hunter, he is "totally up in the air" after his contract ended at midnight last Saturday.

"I hope to carry on playing and I am hopefully going to get the offer of a new contract, but everything is so up in the air. The ball is in the club's court," he said.

United's decision to give players contracts until the last day of the regular season instead of the customary May 31 cut-off saved them a few thousand pounds.

But it was a highly controversial move, creating uncertainty among the players, who were unsure whether they would play if they reached the play-offs, and frustration among the management, with boss Ian Atkins uncertain which players he might have at his disposal.

And the lack of contract offers has been blamed by many for the dip in form of star players Basham and Ford since the turn of the year.

Atkins was preparing to name a reserve team to play at Swindon Town Res in the Avon Insurance Combination today, not knowing which players would be turning up.

"I really don't know whether any of the four will come in," he said. "By rights they don't need to because they're not being paid."

Oldfield, who played for Luton, Manchester City, Leicester, Millwall, Luton, Stoke and Peterborough before joining Oxford, said: "I probably will come in, but I haven't really made my mind up."

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