OXFORD United’s board does not lack ambition in keeping Karl Robinson as head coach, the club’s chief executive has said.

Defeat at home to Barnsley ensured United have lost three games on the bounce, leaving them 14th in Sky Bet League One.

The U’s are 11 points shy of the play-off places, with supporters calling for Robinson to be sacked both in the stands and online.

READ ALSO: Karl Robinson says criticism of him is fair after Oxford United lose third on spin

Chief executive Tim Williams was asked on BBC Radio Oxford’s Five Minute Fans Forum whether the club lacked ambition for sticking with Robinson.

Williams said: “The reality is that the last three results have been awful, the performance against Burton was painful to watch.

“We are not lacking ambition, however what we’re not going to do is put the club at risk at the throw of a dice.

“We want to understand what is happening, we need to understand what is going wrong, and only then do we put it right.

“This is something we take incredibly seriously.

“We do not lack ambition, the ambition is still there.”

Williams added: “Nobody’s happy, we’ve all been in football for a long time and the fans need clarity.

“We hear the frustration and we are falling short of the standards come to expect from us and that we expect from Karl, the club and the team.

“However as a club, we move forward and we’re trying to move forward – we’re working incredibly hard as a team to move forward.

“This is not about just one person, this is about a club getting things wrong and getting some things right.

“We feel this hurt as a club, it is not good enough and no one person in the club is happy with it.

“We’re working night and day, tirelessly as a team and a club, to turn this round and make it right.”

READ AGAIN: Oxford United boss draws the line at online abuse aimed at his daughter

Earlier this week, Robinson highlighted offensive online messages sent to his teenage daughter, behaviour Williams said he will not tolerate.

“I see the pain, I feel the pain of sitting there and watching another game lost against opposition we should be capable of beating,” he said.

“We want to win, we have to win, and losing three games on the bounce isn’t acceptable.

“However, when unrest and anger spills over, then it is a concern.

“What I’ve seen over the last few days are personal insults not just to people in the club but their families, and that is crossing the line.

“Whoever thinks that behaviour is in any way acceptable needs to take a really long hard look at themselves.

“We put ourselves in the firing line because of the jobs that we do, our families don’t do that and they don’t deserve it.

“I will not tolerate personal insults to family members and I promise we will deal with every instance of it.”

Becoming a top 30 club has been a stated ambition by those at United, and Williams said that remains the case despite results on the pitch this season.

He said: “I’d be laughed out of this building if I said the aspiration now is we’re going to make the top six, it’s mathematically possible but I think it’s highly unlikely.

“The goal is and will continue to be that we want to be a top 30 club in the English football pyramid, that hasn’t changed.”