OXFORD United should be cheering on Charlton Athletic to win the Sky Bet League One play-offs, according to Karl Robinson.

And it has nothing to do with his ties to the Valley, having managed the Addicks until walking away in March to take up the reins at the U’s.

Instead, Robinson is eyeing up what he sees as the best outcome for United’s chances of a top-six finish in 12 months’ time.

Charlton host Shrewsbury Town in the first leg of their semi-final tonight, while Scunthorpe United face Rotherham United on Saturday.

He said: “I’m glad Wigan and Blackburn have been promoted, they are out of the way next year and that’s the most important thing.

“We need to support Charlton to get them out of the league because that makes our budget very competitive with the rest that haven’t gone up.

“This is what people need to realise.

“Hopefully the right people go up and when the fixture list comes out we’ll look like one of the big hitters in the league.”

Robinson was also buoyed by the clubs who were relegated out of the third tier.

Aside from Oldham Athletic, who went down on the final day of the season, the United boss felt the other three to drop out were well backed.

He said: “Look at the teams we’ve lost. Everyone knows Bury were massively overspending this year, MK Dons were, Northampton were.

“We’ve lost three big-spending clubs.”

He added: “I just think we could end up getting rid of three big hitters from the top and the bottom, so right away you’ve lost six very competitive teams who all had a bigger budget than us this year.

“Three of them have got relegated, so it just shows you that money isn’t everything.

“It’s about what you can build and make people believe in.”

And the final round of Championship games produced an outcome which is likely to have gone down well.

With Sunderland already doomed, they could have been joined in League One by Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City, but instead Barnsley and Burton Albion were relegated.

Robinson said: “Burton will be like the rest of us and we’re like Barnsley.

“If Sunderland, Birmingham and Bolton had come down it would have been a hard league, with Luton coming up as well.”