Joey Beauchamp says it is impossible for him to split Brian Horton and Denis Smith when asked who was the best manager he’d played under.

“Oxford fans should look at what they did, with the resources they had,” he said.

“To keep the team in and around the Championship as it is now, year after year, on a shoe-string budget is an unbelievable achievement.

“Denis then got the team up when others were spending far more money and kept them there.

“And Brian kept us in the Championship one season with that unbelievable final-day win at Tranmere.

“I can’t split them. They both had different ways of doing things, but were both first-class managers.”