LIAM Manning says he finds it ‘slightly disappointing’ that he might find himself the pantomime villain against Oxford United this weekend.

The Bristol City head coach left United for the Robins in November last year, having only took over the U’s in March.

He guided United to safety in Sky Bet League One at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, and when he exited early on during the following season, the U’s sat second in the table.

READ ALSO: Des Buckingham praises coaching staff for their impact behind the scenes

Asked at a press conference prior to his reunion with United about vocal criticism that may come his way at Ashton Gate, Manning responded: “I’m not going to give it too much energy to be fair.

“I find it slightly disappointing, but it is what it is, it’s football right?

“If you look at where the club was at when we went in, and where we left them, we left them in a much, much better spot.

“It is what it is. I’m going to concentrate my energy on here and control what I can. I’m loving it here, I’m enjoying it here, and I want to win games with the team we’ve got here.”

The U’s went on to achieve promotion last season under Des Buckingham, and have started the current campaign brilliantly, collecting three wins from their opening five league matches.

Manning said: “They’ve started the season well. They’re obviously a club I know well, and players that I know well. They’ve stepped up and done well so far.”

When Manning left for the Robins, he took assistant head coach Chris Hogg and first team coach analyst James Krause, while he also signed Marcus McGuane from United this summer.

Former U’s centre back Luke McNally was also snapped up this summer, while Manning inherited a Robins squad which already had Rob Atkinson, Rob Dickie and Mark Sykes in.

Atkinson has suffered more than 18 months of injury problems, with the rupturing of an anterior cruciate ligament followed by a groin injury during pre-season.

Manning said: “Rob Atkinson is fully training. The big bit with Rob is building up his loads and making sure he’s got enough sessions and game minutes in him, to be ready so he doesn’t break down again. He’s training well and he’s in a good spot.”

The clash against United will almost certainly come too soon though for Atkinson, who is likely to need Under-21s fixtures to get up to speed.

Manning said: “It’s definitely a case of that when you’ve been out for so long, building up that base and minutes, and just getting back to your body moving.

“You can train and do certain bits, but you can never replicate what a match feels like or looks like. We’ll keep building him up that way.”