On Thursday afternoon we said goodbye to a true Oxford United legend with the funeral of Jim Smith.

I was very proud to go along to represent the club along with John Mousinho, Jamie Mackie and Josh Ruffels, as well as Derek Fazackerley.

I hadn’t realised the influence that Jim had on Faz.

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He gave him his first break as a coach and influenced so many of the greats in the game.

It was a sad occasion but nice to see so many great names from the football world come to Woodstock to pay their respects.

We had a chat about those glory days of the 1980s and someone asked me what I thought of their legacy.

At some clubs, the managers have tried to hide away from the past and take down pictures of club legends because it can set such high expectations for the more recent players.

The most famous example was Brian Clough trying to break away from all that Don Revie had achieved at Leeds United by telling the players to throw their medals in the bin!

Why would you do that? Every club should be proud of its history and celebrate the great managers and players of the past.

I have known John Aldridge for years and we should always remember what players like him, Gary Briggs, Malcolm Shotton, Trevor Hebberd, Dave Langan and so on did, as well as people like Ron and Graham Atkinson and John Shuker.

It means so much to the people of Oxford and it’s right that we still celebrate the past here – there is a reunion dinner for the promotion-winning side of 2010 coming up and I see images from that day at Wembley all around the place.

It should be a challenge to this squad of players to try to create memories for the current generation of fans.

There are some supporters who now come every week who won’t remember the game in 2010!

But if we win at Newcastle United next week or gain promotion this season then a new generation of heroes start to emerge for the fans.

That’s the challenge we face – live up to the likes of Jim Smith and create memories which are handed down to fans for years to come.

I don’t think I will forget Tuesday night’s game against Ipswich in a hurry!

I’ve never experienced conditions like that and the referee got it spot on to take the players off and see if the surface improved.

The ball wasn’t rolling and it was dangerous for players, so we left the field for 15 minutes and then the game was fine to carry on.

We did the sensible thing and got inside, where Jonny Edmunds the kit man performed wonders to get everyone into new dry kit.

After coming back out, I think we were unlucky not to win the game in the second half.

Credit to the fans as well, because those were horrible conditions to watch a game of football in.

Here’s hoping for better as we travel to Gillingham today, where I am sure you will make plenty of noise and do your best to help us get all three points.