Darryl Eales says the only big regret of his first year in charge at Oxford United was the takeover was not completed sooner.

The 54-year-old has just marked his 12-month anniversary as U’s chairman and believes there is good reason to look ahead to the new season with “justifiable optimism”.

But it comes after a tough baptism for Eales and his management team, led by chief executive Mark Ashton.

It took weeks of negotiation last summer with then chairman Ian Lenagan to agree the takeover, but when it finally went through – just hours before it was made public – pre-season had already started.

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Michael Appleton, installed as head coach in place of Gary Waddock, had to scramble to assemble a squad which had Danny Hylton as its only summer signing.

Eales has no doubt it hampered progress on the pitch for a side which spent the entire campaign in Sky Bet League Two’s bottom half, despite an excellent finish.

Looking back on the situation, the U’s chief thinks it could have been avoided if a deal had been done sooner – something Ashton was keen to achieve.

Eales said: “My view with a glorious bit of 20/20 hindsight is if we had got in eight weeks earlier we would’ve been there or thereabouts with the play-offs.

“I hate to say the chief executive is right, but if you’re going to buy a football club, do it towards the back end of the season, or very early after the end of it.

“Otherwise you miss the planning of getting in the players you want and then you’re behind the eight ball.

“One of the things I say all the time is in life you can only play the hand you have.

“You can then argue did I play it well or badly.

“I think we did some good things and not so good things.”

He added: “I think we were, in a lot of ways, under-prepared.

“But if you’re not euphoric about something like that then there’s something the matter with you.

“Then it does dawn on you that you’ve got a lot of responsibility and stewardship. There is a lot to do.”

While good results on the pitch took longer to materialise than expected, the mood around the club is upbeat after a summer of high-profile signings and lower season ticket prices.

And Eales is certain United are heading in the right direction.

He said: “I think the best thing about the first 12 months is how much we’ve learnt so as a board we are in a far stronger position to make better decisions, which is all you can do.

“We’ve been through some pretty tough times and stuck together.

“I think we have taken the first small steps where we are really moving in the right direction and there is justifiable optimism.

“What we need to do is work even harder to get other aspects improved.”