CHAIRMAN Kelvin Tho-mas said Chris Wilder would bring "grit, determination and focus" to the Oxford United team.

And he insisted he was not "the cheap option", but, simply, "the best candidate".

Thomas believes Wilder's record at this level is as good as anyone's, considering the testing conditions he faced at Halifax where there was little money and gradual meltdown behind the scenes.

The feeling is that, if he can do a good job in those circumstances, he can really thrive at Oxford where there's an opportunity to work with better players, and where the stadium and training ground set-ups are at League One or Championship standard.

What impressed Thomas the most, though, in the interviews Wilder had with United's directors, was his thoroughness.

"Chris was very detailed in his approach,” he said.

“He'd done his research, he knew a lot about the club, and about the existing players here.

“And that's one of the things we'd heard about too in the lead-up to the interviews, that he's very professional, and very determined.

"He's managed in well over 300 games in the Conference and been able to do well under very heavy constraints, getting his team to the play-off final," Thomas said.

"Chris is going to bring grit, determination and focus. And importantly, he wanted to be manager of Oxford United.

"We are excited by Chris's appointment, he's done well at Bury and his name has come to the attention of a lot of Football League clubs.

"This is one of the biggest jobs in non-League football and we think he's going to be the best man for the job.

"We're lucky that he's young, at 41, he's energetic, but he's also done it at this level, and he's got through a lot of those 300 games in very tough times.

"We're able to give him a bit more money in the budget, and hopefully that combination will take this club forward."

"He's not a box office name, I know that and Chris knows that, but he's here to do the job, and we think he's the best man for the job.

"We made that decision from day one, that we weren't going to go for a ‘box office’ name just for the sake of it. There were some box office names there, and they may have done a good job.

“As with any process, you never really know until someone's in the job, but we've spoken to a lot of people in the game and there have been a lot of people who have recommended Chris.

"Box office is a short-term mentality. We're looking for long-term mentality.

“Of course, it would have been nice to put a couple of thousand on the gate for the first couple of games, but this is all about the future of the football club, and what we need to move forward with that. I think Chris is what we need at this point."

Mickey Lewis will continue as the No 2, working with Wilder on the training ground.

"The staff stays the same," Thomas confirmed.

"We've got a good staff here, who have done a great job since Darren's departure, with Jim stepping in. And many of them have stepped up as well."

Stressing that wage dem-ands had nothing to do with the new appointment, Uni-ted's chairman said: "Chris isn't the cheap option.

“We had candidates we could have got a lot cheaper than Chris. We had a couple of free options, managers who would have come and worked for free.

"Chris has been given a good package because we think he's the right guy and we wanted him to know that we think he's the right guy, within our restraints. But we're not over-spending either."