When River Plate icon Diaz took over fourth-tier Oxford

It was December 2004.

Oxford United, the 1986 League Cup winners, were in a slump, having dropped from the second tier to the fourth since 1999 - and were sliding down League Two when owner Firoz Kassam sacked Graham Rix.

Kassam, the club's unpopular owner, invited out-of-work manager Chris Turner to watch their 1-0 defeat by Swansea - and most people thought he was the new manager, including the Oxford Mail and some players.

But instead... "It was quite bizarre," said former U's striker Basham. "Five or six guys came in, in a line. They all stood in front of us and none of them spoke a word of English, apart from one translator."

Goiran said "all the players had wide-open eyes wondering 'who are these guys?'".

Those guys were Diaz, head coach Horacio Rodriguez, another coach Raul Marcovich, Goiran, fitness trainer Pablo Fernandez, doctor Rafael Giulietti and translator Giuilliano Iacoppi.

But wait, how did it come to this? It all starts in Monaco - where Kassam and Goiran lived and Diaz also had a home having played for the club.

Kassam approached a friend of a friend, Goiran, who has worked as a football agent and consultant, to help him find a manager and the Monegasque suggested Diaz - who had left River Plate in 2002.

At the time it was widely reported that Diaz was not being paid to be Oxford manager - and Kassam said he had "promised him shares in the club in return for success".

But Goiran, speaking 20 years on, says Kassam's company Firoka, but not the club, instead paid Diaz and Goiran consulting fees in Monaco.

And the question many have asked - why did a manager with five Argentine titles and the Copa Libertadores come to League Two Oxford?

Goiran says it was part of a project to get to the Premier League in five years - but after a bitter ending, Diaz, who is now Corinthians manager in Brazil, never worked in England or even Europe again.

"When they first came in, there were grand talks about redeveloping the stadium, putting a new stand behind the goal and taking us into the Premier League," said goalkeeper Tardif.

The new management team wanted to freshen up the squad and brought in a host of trialists - some days about half of the people training were trialists.

Out of those came a few South American signings - midfielder Lucas Cominelli, winger Juan Pablo Raponi and Uruguayan defender Mateo Corbo. Diaz's sons Emiliano and Michael - who was young and never played for the first team - also joined.

Results were mixed.

Cominelli played 16 times, scoring a long-range effort against Grimsby, and was seen as one of the successes.

"Oxford were fantastic," said Cominelli, who had once been on the books of Newcastle without making a first-team appearance.

"It was really good. I had a good experience, a good memory of it from the fans, the city, the club."

Full-back Corbo remains a cult hero at the club after eight yellow cards and a red card in 13 games.

Raponi, who had played for River Plate, was too lightweight for League Two but played 10 times.

Emiliano Diaz, who played seven times, is often mentioned in discussions about Oxford's worst ever players.

That was just one of many times he worked with his dad - having played under Ramon at River Plate and been his assistant manager at over 10 teams since retiring.

Cominelli added there were never issues between the England and South American players.

"The team-mates were really OK," he said. "It was really welcome. They helped and everything. We had a good dressing room."

Basham added: "Some [were] good, some not so good. Some fitted in really well. A couple were superb, really worked hard, good on the ball, really good additions to the side.

"And then you had one or two that it didn't quite work out for them.

"Raponi was very quick, he made an impact at times, but the physical side of the game sometimes was a bit too much for him."

After the good run in January, though, Oxford's form took a dip, losing four of the next five games.

And things were unravelling off the pitch too.

Diaz and Kassam fell out over a difference of opinion in the ambition of the club - and over Diaz not speaking English.

The manager, plus some of his coaches, missed a few games for work permit or passport reasons.

Basham said it just "fizzled out" as the club finished 15th - nowhere near the top or bottom.

"It's almost surreal looking back," said Tardif. "It was difficult for them coming in our level. They weren't quite ready for having to do the basics over and over again.

"I really liked them as people. Do I think it was the right match? Probably not."

Goiran was in discussions with Kassam about how to structure the club's marketing and finding investment.

"There were a lot of things to do because the club was not professional for me," he said. "I spent about 12 hours per day minimum working on that and we made a lot of progress.

"I was more like a chief executive than other things - but I was still close on the training ground.

"The relationship between Ramon and Firoz was difficult. They discussed the future and financial things. Ramon didn't feel that Firoz would like to grow [the club]."

Basham said: "I think they had really big plans for Oxford United. They were all pushing in the right direction.

"I think they all thought they were close to some sort of deal with Kassam and for whatever reason it all just ended up... yeah, there was a big fallout, which was a real shame."