 Maxwell reluctantly dropped his amalgamation plans, but retained his 19 % stake in Reading. Under Smee's chairmanship, the team won promotion back from the Fourth Division at the end of the 1983 – 84 season, and won the Third Division title two years later, taking it into the Second Division. Smee remained at the helm until 1990, when amid a financial crisis at the club he sold it to John Madejski. Meanwhile, Maxwell made Oxford United profitable, and oversaw two successive promotions for the club during the 1983 – 84 and 1984 – 85 seasons. The team played in the First Division, then the top level of English football, for the first time during 1985 – 86, and won its first major trophy, the League Cup, in April 1986. Despite Maxwell's reservations about the Manor Ground, the club remained there throughout this time.
