Oxford United boss Aaron Ramsey has admitted he is "loving every second" of his first full coaching role since retiring from playing in April.

The Welshman arrived at the Kassam Stadium in June and has impressed across their opening 13 League One games, with the U's one of two sides in the division to have only one defeat this season.

On Wednesday, Ramsey's side beat Thames Valley rivals Reading with an impressive performance in a 2-0 victory to move up to third in the standings.

Relegated from the Championship last campaign under Gary Rowett and later Matt Bloomfield, United have won seven times with five draws so far and are just three points off the league leaders Huddersfield with a game in hand.

"I'm loving every moment of it, me and my staff all credit to them as well," former Arsenal and Wales midfielder Ramsey told BBC Sport.

"We work hard to give our players the best opportunities to go out and win football games and we're loving it, I think you can see that as well by the way that we are and the excitement here.

"I think the players as well, you can see the way that they respond, they've fully bought into exactly what we demand of them and it's a real pleasure to be here."

Ramsey made 369 appearances for Arsenal across 11 years where he won three FA Cups before moving to Juventus in 2019 where he won the Serie A title and Coppa Italia.

In the latter stages of his career, Ramsey played for Nice, returned to boyhood club Cardiff City and made six appearances for Mexican side UNAM Pumas.

Before becoming Oxford head coach he spent time as caretaker manager for the Bluebirds at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Less than a month after arriving at the Kassam in what was a surprise appointment given his lack of managerial experience, Oxford were placed under a transfer embargo restricting them from signing players.

The club were unable to recruit, and lost two key players in Stanley Mills to Preston North End and Brian De Keersmaecker on loan to Bristol City with an option to buy.

Despite these departures in the wake of a tough relegation season, the encouraging start under Ramsey has lifted the mood at Oxford with optimism now they can return to the second tier under their new head coach.

On Wednesday night, home supporters were chanting Ramsey's name as he leapt into the air and pumped his fist after the victory over the Royals.

"Of course, we're proud but we're still early on in the season," Ramsey added.

"We go out to win football games and the results and positions and all of that will all take care of itself.

"We're not getting carried away or anything, but the boys have bought fully into what we're asking of them and they're producing performances and winning games of football so it's really pleasing for us."

It remains to be seen if Oxford will have their embargo removed before the January transfer window having not been compliant with the EFL's salary cost management protocol (SCMP) regulations.

The club retain a sense of confidence they will be in strong position to have the restrictions lifted by the time the new year comes around but, if the embargo remains, Ramsey feels that the current group of players are more than capable of having a successful campaign.

"Look, we'll see what the situation is," he said.

"We're still in an embargo so right now for me what's important is concentrating on what we've got here and we've got a lot of quality here.

"The players are showing their full worth and why we rate them so highly and a squad as well who are fully committed that will have opportunities to help the team achieve what we want to this season."