Darren Patterson has just been announced as the new manager of Oxford United. Patterson was manager of the club for three games in March 2006, between the tenures of Brian Talbot and Jim Smith, during which time United were unbeaten.[@manager]patterson, darren[/@manager][@manager]smith, jim[/@manager] After Smith took over Patterson resumed his duties as youth-team manager, last season guiding them to their league championship with an unbeaten record. After Andy Awford was relieved of his duties, Patterson was installed as Smith's assistant, and it was pretty much given that he was being lined up to replace Smith one day, especially after he was offered, and then refused, the boss's job at Brentford.

Smith is standing down as manager but will remain a director of United, although not Director of Football, as has been widely speculated. It is unfortunate that things haven't worked out for Smith in his second spell as Oxford manager. He took over with eight games remaining of the 2005/06 season, but the side only won twice and were relegated to the Conference. Last season Smith oversaw United break the Conference record for the longest unbeaten sequence at the start of the season, but they were unable to maintain their momentum and eventually finished second to Dagenham & Redbridge, who at one stage were nine points adrift of the Us. Oxford were then 2-0 up on aggregate against Exeter City in the play-off semi-finals, but lost on penalties. This season, as has been well documented, United have struggled, and there have been rumours, fanned by comments made by Andy Burgess in the Daily Mirror, that Smith's behaviour has been undermining the players' confidence.

While we are very sad that things haven't worked out for Smith, and we are very sorry to see him step down without regaining the league status that he so desperately wants for the club, we do feel that this is the right move. We would have preferred to have seen a proper recruitment process for Smith's successor, but we will obviously give Patterson our full backing in his attempt to restore a place in the Football League and bring success back to Oxford United. We like Patto, and we trust that his record of never having lost as Oxford manager continues for a long time.