They say you should never go back.

In football, it generally doesn't work and there are countless occasions when managers and players have met with little success second time around at a club.

But physiotherapist Neil Sullivan is thoroughly enjoying his second spell at Oxford United, where he's an integral part of Darren Patterson's staff.

Brought to the Kassam Stadium by former boss Mark Wright, Sullivan left following the "Argentine invasion" of Ramon Diaz and his seven-strong backroom team.

Joining Wright at Peterborough United in 2005, he then left London Road the following year after Wright was dismissed. He returned to Oxford to take over from Neal Reynolds, back in his old job, and has been there ever since.

Reflecting on that troubled time, Sullivan says: "I've always had a very good relationship with the managers.

"The only time that I didn't enjoy working in the regime was when Diaz and his team were here.

"They had a doctor who changed it. He oversaw everything.

"We didn't agree on the practices really. The types of things he was trying to do may have been more common on the continent, or more especially in South America, but they weren't what we'd been used to.

"I'm very open to change, and suggestions, but sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe is right and it just didn't lead to a good working relationship."

Sullivan had thought about quitting, but in the end didn't need to.

"They (Diaz & Co) were planning on staying on at one point and they wouldn't have wanted me about. We just didn't agree on certain stuff.

"That coincided with the time I was just off anyway, to Peterborough, because there were other options as well. I turned down Leyton Orient about that time.

"It was an easy decision for me to make personally. The time was right.

"Peterborough didn't work out because of the change of management that was there. Steve Bleasdale was Mark Wright's assistant and took over, and it was never going to work out with him because of the bust-up there had been when Mark left."

Sullivan moved into sports physiotherapy some 15 years ago.

"It's something I always wanted to do," he says. "I did my FA diploma, that was the first stage, back in 1994. After taking that, I started doing some part-time work at Wycombe Wanderers while I was at university."

Sullivan worked at Wycombe Wanderers for two-and-a-half years. Alan Smith was the manager when he first arrived, he was followed by John Gregory, and then Neil Smillie.

"During my final year at university I got lucky again and ended up doing a season in the Academy at Chelsea. I was just looking after the training sessions and doing the odd game here and there.

"It was a good experience and is good for the CV! It definitely helped me out in landing the Oxford job when that came up."

Sullivan was also playing for Bicester Rugby Club.

"I played not very well, for Bicester, and again, during my first years at university I kind of evolved into more of a physio role. It was a good grounding.

"There are different things you see in rugby than you do in football, more shoulders and hand injuries. Rugby players are a different breed to footballers."

Touch wood, he says, he has never had to deal with a horror injury of the type the unfortunate Eduardo sustained for Arsenal at Birmingham in February.

But he sometimes does have to take on the role of a medic, when the need arises.

"It's my responsibility, especially away games to look after the players medically if I can, because we don't have our own doctor there - though I am lucky compared to the lower levels you get because we generally have doctors and paramedics at home.

"But if somebody needs to go to a hospital while the match is going on, they go by ambulance accompanied by either a player or member of staff who's not involved.

"I can't go because there's still 11 bodies running around on the pitch for me to look at. But then after the game it will be a case of following them there and checking what we can do, and seeing whether they're well enough to go home or not.

"Sometimes they're not ready to go home at the same time as the rest of the players. I remember Chris Tardif at swansea a couple of years ago when he got knocked out and had concussion, and ended up coming back in a car with Tony Ashley and Mick Brown following the game about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning."

The treatment room always used to be the place where you could pick up the latest gossip because players would call in just to chat. Is that still the case?

"There's not much that I don't find out about!" Sullivan says.

"Some players like to come in and have a good chinwag with you, others just like to congregate there.

"It's usually a warm room, especially at our training ground on a winter's day, and a lot of players come in.

"I also encourage them to come in the mornings to get straightened out and prevent things from happening, rather than let them happen. They're a varied bunch, but you learn what makes them tick."

It's also the place where Sullivan picks up tit-bits and the nonsensical comments that some of the players make - which he then reveals in his column in the matchday programme.

"Yes, usually the victim of the piece is ridiculed by the rest of the squad," Neil says. "But Matty Day's got broad shoulders!"

So what's a typical day like for United physio Neil Sullivan?

"It involves the injured players coming in for a 9.30 start and testing them first in the morning," he said.

"Generally we know what we're going to be doing, whether it's a gym session or sometimes a swimming session, so it's determining what the day's got in store for them, getting ready, and setting them off to do their thing while I'm on hand for the fit players, who quite often need assessing before a training session.

"There's quite a few of them who do a long drive so need to be loosened up before they train.

"Then, when they're out of the way, I'll either meet the injured players in the gym and go through their rehab with them there or often it's on the pitch, depending on the injuries, obviously.

"On the pitch there are drills to try to get them ready to rejoin training.

"The afternoons are different as well - it's usually back at the stadium, because we have more equipment back there, and some gym work. All the injured players are usually off by 2 or 3 o'clock and then it's just a bit of paperwork and then off for me as well."

Sullivan also sees the general public as one of a number of physios operating out of the clinic at the David Lloyd Centre in Cowley.

"That's going very well," he said. "It's great for me because I see so many other different injuries than just the football-specific ones I normally deal with.

"It's a very busy club - a tennis centre as well - and a great place to have a clinic. So I get to deal with quite a few tennis injuries."

He added: "I'm now doing a masters degree as well, studying for a masters in 'Advancing Practice' at Birmingham University, and again that takes up a fair bit of time.

"It's not just for physios, but for doctors as well, and specialist nurses - it's just something I've wanted to do for some time."