DARRYL Eales will look into ways of making Oxford United’s players more accessible to supporters following the success of their pre-season tour.

The club went to great lengths to make those who travelled to Austria feel welcome and the result of players and fans mingling together has been plenty of goodwill.

Even before the trip, plans had been drawn up for a series of fan forums around Oxfordshire in the season.

But United’s chairman, who flew home yesterday, is keen to do all he can to ensure it spreads back to the rest of the fanbase.

“If we could carry that through to every home game I can’t help but believe it would make the whole matchday experience fantastic,” said Eales.

“We will sit down with OxVox, the Yellow Army, whoever and say ‘what are the things we can do to carry this forward into creating a fantastic atmosphere on matchdays?’ “For me, one of the problems of professional sport is lack of accessibility. It just seems a lose-lose situation.

“If you’re a player, I would’ve thought getting to know the fans inspires you to work even harder.

“I think what’s happened on this trip was a bonus, but it should be the norm that we are an open club and have appropriate access.

“The players at certain times are at work, but they also need to relax and the behaviour of the fans was superb, it was all good-natured.”

Eales and chief executive Mark Ashton were among the supporters after the final whistle at SC Wiener Neustadt on Tuesday.

Both are in the photograph which has spread far and wide on social media, which Ashton hopes can be symbolic for the campaign ahead.

Ashton said: “The camera never lies – look at the faces of the fans and players at the end of the game.

“There was true interaction and for me it was almost a rallying call where the fans and players are saying ‘we know what we’ve got to do this season and no-one is going to derail us’.

“Fans have a huge part to play and they were absolutely fantastic.

“Seasons are built and they’re not won in August.

“There will be highs and lows, but in every promotion campaign I’ve been involved in it’s been that togetherness and strong mentality which has driven everyone through.”