OXFORD United will give fans the opportunity to prolong their promotion celebrations even further after plans for an open-top bus tour were announced.
Josh Murphy’s brace secured the U’s a 2-0 victory against Bolton Wanderers in the Sky Bet League One play-off final at Wembley.
The club has now revealed the arrangements for an open top bus tour in the city tomorrow.
The parade will start at The Plain and then go over Magdalen Bridge, and along the High Street to Oxford Town Hall. Two buses are expected to leave The Plain at 5.55pm and arrive at the Town Hall at approximately 6.30pm.
United are encouraging supporters to line the full length of the route, keeping the road clear to allow the buses to pass, and not to congregate at St Aldates, as arrival at the Town Hall will mark the end of the parade.
There will be no public speeches, with the players and staff then entering the Town Hall, where they have been invited by Oxford City Council as guests for a civic ceremony.
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The parade has been organised in conjunction with the city council, Oxfordshire County Council and Thames Valley Police.
U’s head of safety and operations Jim Goddard said: “First of all, I would like to congratulate all of the team at Oxford United for their remarkable achievement in earning promotion to the Sky Bet Championship.
“We are all now looking forward to celebrating with the city of Oxford as we honour Des Buckingham and his team for their efforts.
“I would like to offer my thanks to all those involved for helping to create this event. My thanks in particular go to Oxford City Council and Thames Valley police for being so supportive at such short notice. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable evening.”
City council leader Susan Brown said: “We’re delighted to welcome Oxford United to the Town Hall to celebrate their promotion to the Championship.
“It’s been 25 years since they last played in the second tier and there have been some very dark days along the way, which makes victory all the sweeter. We’re looking forward to seeing the team celebrate their success with their fans – they deserve it.”
County council leader Liz Leffman said: “The warmest congratulations from all at the county council to Oxford United on their play-off victory and promotion to the Championship.
“It has been a long journey for the club since the days of non-league football. It’s wonderful to see the U’s back to this elevated level of English football and it was great to see the joy of the fans.”
There will be road closures for the duration of the parade at Longwall Street and the junction of St Aldates and Pembroke Street.
Other roads will be closed on a rolling basis as the parade progresses and will reopen as soon as possible once it has passed. Roads affected will be:
- The Plain
- Rose Lane
- Merton Street
- Queen’s Lane
- King Edward Street
- Turl Street
- Alfred Street
- Blue Boar Street
- Brewer Street
- Speedwell Street
- Thames Street
Road closures are expected to start at 5:45 pm at the latest and end by 7pm.
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