Ramon Diaz says his Coca-Cola League Two Manager of the Month award is a team effort.

And the Oxford United boss dedicated it to everyone who contributed to making January such a success.

"This was a team effort," he said. "This is not about one person, this is for all of Oxford. It's for the chairman, for the fans and for all the people who support Oxford United, and all the technical team here.

"They have all worked hard, and most importantly for the English players who have worked hard."

The 46-year-old Argentine will surely go down in history as the first foreign manager to collect such a prestigious award in his first full month in English football.

It was a shame, therefore, that such a major international company as Coca-Cola could not come up with a better trophy than the oversize Coke bottle with which Diaz was presented yesterday at the Kassam Stadium.

My village tennis club dishes out better trophies than that, and Diaz was somewhat underwhelmed to be told he would be getting a smaller version of the bottle to keep for himself.

It demeaned the hard work and professionalism which had gone into transforming the club, and helping United to produce four victories and two draws from their six games last month, including a win over table-topping Yeovil.

Diaz added: "We have to work again. It's a very important game at Lincoln on Saturday because they are quite high in the table, in the play-off positions."

Announcing Diaz as the winner on Sky Sports News, Chris Kamara, chairman of the panel who make the decision, said: "I find this an incredible story. We all talk about Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, but they couldn't manage down in the lower divisions.

"This fellow has come in after doing it at the highest level with River Plate and Monaco.

"Oxford were unbeaten in January, winning four and drawing two, with a big victory over Yeovil.

"I think people are now seeing this fellow has got a bit of something about him.

"He has an interpretor, but he has managed to turn the players round that Graham Rix had before and now they are showing promotion form.

"It defies logic that other top managers couldn't come down to the lower divisions and do it."

United's win over Yeovil played a big part in Diaz winning the award.

And Kamara said: "It surprised everyone because Yeovil had beaten everyone before them.

"Tommy Mooney and Lee Bradbury are fantastic players, but they under-achieved when Graham Rix played a big part in Diaz winning the award.

And Kamara said: "It surprised everyone because Yeovil had beaten everyone before them.

"Tommy Mooney and Lee Bradbury are fantastic players, but they under-achieved when Graham Rix brought them to the football club.

"He expected them to do it for him as well, but this fellow has come in with new ideas and it has worked very well."

Last year's Football League sponsors, Nationwide, presented winners with an impressive plaque and took them out to lunch, but Diaz won't even get a free meal.

There is, of course, the famous Manager of the Month "curse", with winners so often losing their next match.

"Ah," Ramon said, "we have already lost that next match, with the reserves at Peterborough this week!"