Oxford United insist former Crawley skipper Dannie Bulman signed for them for “football reasons” and not because of big wages.

The 30-year-old joined Reds’ Conference rivals on Tuesday in a two-year deal after rejecting Crawley’s offer.

Boss Steve Evans said Crawley’s bid had been “blown out of the water” by Oxford but his opposite number Chris Wilder disagreed.

Wilder said: “Dannie wanted to come here for football reasons. The ‘blown out of the water’ quote from the manager is way off the mark.

“We’re talking £25 possibly £50 a week from what he’s getting to what he was getting at Crawley. And we think we can justify that because we’re getting average crowds of 5,500 and we got 10,000 for our last home game of the season.

“One thing I can say is that Evans was right on is that we’re getting a really good professional and a very good player.”

Bulman admitted he nearly joined Oxford last summer after talks with Wilder’s predecessor Darren Patterson.

He said: “I’d heard there was interest from Oxford. Crawley wanted to keep me on the same sort of contract so I told them I wanted to keep my options open.

“I came down and spoke to Chris Wilder and after that there was only one place I wanted to be. He’s a good manager.

“He didn’t have to sell the club because it’s a nice pitch and nice stadium.

“I’ve played against Oxford a few times in the League and in non-League.

“It’s a massive club and they should be back in the League.

“It’s all geared up to go there but the hard thing is getting the points on the board.”