They say you should never go back - we all know that - but in Jim Smith's case it was surely an exception.

Here was a true legend of a manager, one who had brought Oxford United their greatest years, who had managed the biggest clubs - like Newcastle United - at the highest level, and one who had such a vast knowledge of the game.

And his contacts were priceless. There aren't many bosses, for instance, who can simply pick up the phone and get straight through to Sir Alex Ferguson.

But the Messiah's second coming just didn't go to plan.

And after taking Oxford United up 25 places in the Football League in his first glorious spell in charge in the 1980s, from 5th in Division Three and into the First Division for the first time, he has this time overseen a slump in which the club has fallen 16 places, from 19th in League Two when he took over to 11th as they sadly stand now in the Blue Square Premier.

The Bald Eagle's 20 months in charge has been really up and down - on two occasions.

There was the first very brief experience of trying to save a team that was on a downward spiral and shorn of confidence from falling through the Football League trapdoor.

They had to win their final game to stay in the Football League, and they were at home to a Leyton Orient side that also needed victory to clinch promotion.

The club's final match in the Football League was to be one of the most remarkable matches in their history, ending with both sides desperately committing players forward, kami-kazi style, in search of the three points. At one stage in the closing minutes Oxford had three forwards bearing down on goal against one defender. Seconds later, at the other end, Orient then had four against one.

And, with a certain inevitability, it was one of United's former players, Lee Steele, who scored Orient's winner in a 3-2 scoreline that spelled the end of Oxford's 44-year stay in the Football League and left home fans all around the stadium in tears.

To be fair, Smith was not blamed for the relegation. Most supporters felt predecessor Brian Talbot had done much of the damage, and the blame lay much more with previous chairman Firoz Kassam.

Off the field, United were doing things much more professionally than they had in the Kassam era, establishing a new training ground base at Milton, treating the players well with overnight stays, pre-match meals and introducing a big backroom staff, including a fitness trainer and masseur as well as physios and coaches.

So for the players, there could be no excuses. And United's life in non-League started well under Smith.

With an experienced defensive trio of Chris Willmott, Barry Quinn and Phil Gilchrist, no-one could score against them, and the U's were unbeaten in the first 18 Conference games, storming away at the top of the table with automatic promotion looking almost nailed-on.

But cold reality was soon to set in. The wheels started to come off in the middle of winter when key players picked up injuries - most notably Chris Willmott, Steve Basham and Eddie Hutchinson - and a 12-game winless run drained self-belief.

There's no doubt Oxford United blew it last season, and that was always going to be their best chance of bouncing back into the Football League.

Thanks in no small part to new loan signing Chris Zebroski, the U's managed a late three-win spurt to guarantee finishing second in the table and being at home for the second leg of the play-off semi-final.

A thoroughly professional performance and 1-0 win at Exeter in the first leg put Oxford halfway to Wembley, but once again they blew it. After Yemi Odubade had shot them two up on aggregate they seemed to go into reverse, and the Devon side clawed back the deficit then won 4-3 in an excruciating penalty shoot-out.

It might have been the time for Smith to step down then, but he was determined to have one more stab at getting the club promoted.

But Conference clubs no longer feared Oxford United.

The U's kept throwing away leads at home, most spectacularly against Torquay, which suggested that team spirit wasn't great, but it was away from home that Oxford United looked a sorry state of affairs. Defeats at Histon, Droylsden and then last week's five-goal hammering at Rushden made it a sad end to Jim Smith's second reign.

But the Bald Eagle will always have a special place in Oxford United's history for what he achieved 20 years ago.

And it's good that he has moved on now, before the slide drags on irreversibly, so that he can best be remembered by Yellows supporters for what he did in the 80s - as the greatest manager in the club's history.