It was December 2004.
Oxford United, the 1986 League Cup winners, have been in a droop, having dropped from the second tier to the fourth since 1999 – and have been sliding down League Two when proprietor Firoz Kassam sacked Graham Rix.
Kassam, the membership's unpopular proprietor, invited out-of-work supervisor Chris Turner to look at their 1-0 defeat by Swansea – and most of the people thought he was the brand new supervisor, together with the Oxford Mail, external and a few gamers.
However as an alternative… “It was fairly weird,” stated former U's striker Basham. “5 or 6 guys got here in, in a line. All of them stood in entrance of us and none of them spoke a phrase of English, aside from one translator.”
Goiran stated “all of the gamers had wide-open eyes questioning ‘who're these guys?'”.
These guys have been Diaz, head coach Horacio Rodriguez, one other coach Raul Marcovich, Goiran, health coach Pablo Fernandez, physician Rafael Giulietti and translator Giuilliano Iacoppi.
However wait, how did it come to this? All of it begins in Monaco – the place Kassam and Goiran lived and Diaz additionally had a house having performed for the membership.
Kassam approached a pal of a pal, Goiran, who has labored as a soccer agent and advisor, to assist him discover a supervisor and the Monegasque prompt Diaz – who had left River Plate in 2002.
On the time it was extensively reported that Diaz was not being paid to be Oxford supervisor – and Kassam stated he had “promised him shares within the membership in return for fulfillment”.
However Goiran, talking 20 years on, says Kassam's firm Firoka, however not the membership, as an alternative paid Diaz and Goiran consulting charges in Monaco.
And the query many have requested – why did a supervisor with 5 Argentine titles and the Copa Libertadores come to League Two Oxford?
Goiran says it was a part of a challenge to get to the Premier League in 5 years – however after a bitter ending, Diaz, who's now Corinthians supervisor in Brazil, by no means labored in England and even Europe once more.
“Once they first got here in, there have been grand talks about redeveloping the stadium, placing a brand new stand behind the purpose and taking us into the Premier League,” stated goalkeeper Tardif.
