00:00And you mentioned a couple of managers already, which ones were the most significant do you
00:11think in shaping you as a footballer?
00:17I'd probably say, starting from the beginning really, Alan Irvine, just in the way of, you
00:25know, his training and kind of the way he trapped me as a first team player, I wasn't
00:29kind of looked upon as a young kid, he gave me the same license as everybody else, that's
00:35how I felt, you know, confident enough to kind of pit myself against the players and
00:41obviously given my debut, so I'll always be thankful for Alan and moving forward, probably
00:49Gary Megson as well, shortly after, management style, totally different, come from a place
00:56of like real passion and that's something that, you know, quality of his that I really
01:02liked and he was able to kind of portray that through the players, which I found, probably
01:10still up to now, they're probably the manager that's done that the most, really.
01:16Then moving through, again, coming back from Trammier, yeah, probably Ronnie Moore at Trammier
01:22again, he's probably a big one that I don't really speak about, never really spoke about
01:27too often, but really approachable character, more so than the early days at Chef Wednesday
01:37where similar to a lot of young players, you don't really have that relationship with a
01:42manager where it's such an open dialogue and you always feel like, it's a bit like
01:46headteacher vibes when you're younger and you just want to say the right thing, but
01:50he was really down to earth on a level with the players, which probably went hand in hand
01:55with Trammier as a club, so that's the kind of side where he got his message through to
02:02the players from also being that kind of friend and on that level with the players, which
02:07again, worked really well for that team and that club.
02:14Then coming back, Stuart Gray, probably one that I really enjoyed playing for, a lot of
02:24encouragement, give you a lot of freedom, never really wanted to shout on ball, which
02:30at that stage of my career was quite helpful, I'd say, you know, young player, just obviously
02:36going to make mistakes coming into the first team, shouldered a lot of the responsibility
02:43himself, which I always admired as well at the time, when things weren't going right,
02:48never blamed the players, so that's something I liked about Stuart.
02:52And then, yeah, probably obviously Carlos was a big area for the club, but not so myself,
03:01if I'm being honest, I found myself kind of playing one every three games, if you like,
03:07and it was always a tougher game, so I wasn't really expected to get a result, but again,
03:14successful period where it was more the players that was playing could kind of do what they
03:20want and the players that was the 14th, 15th, 16th players found it a bit more difficult
03:28and I fell into that category at the time. Moving forward, obvious ones being, yeah,
03:38Darren Moore, definitely, I was obviously a lot older during his time and my kind of role
03:46changed within that time, within that team and he kind of learned on me a lot in terms of
03:53how's the dressing room feeling, what do you think to this, I'm thinking about doing this
03:59and really valued my input, which again, at that stage in my career, I really found like a new kind
04:07of responsibility and almost being seen as that leader within the dressing room, which I quite
04:14obviously have enjoyed that since, I've been in his office quite often, again, it'd be very
04:21much on a level in terms of the way that he spoke to you and his staff as well.
04:30I'm not sure if that's just because I'm older, you know, approaching 30, but
04:34having that honest, well, real honest kind of relationship, I really enjoyed working under
04:40Darren and I think that's kind of, even if he wasn't playing, which I was for the main,
04:48but you kind of still respected his approach and his kind of openness to
04:55treating everyone the same, just a really nice man. So, yeah, Darren's definitely up there.
05:02Obviously, we shared disappointment, but then the way he kind of used that and rebuilt the team,
05:07you know, quite a lot of ins and outs to then go on and have a successful promotion.
05:12Yeah, it's not easy. So, no, I think he did a great job. Yeah, and then
05:20on to Danny, really, obviously, Sisco's time was difficult for everyone and me in particular,
05:27off the back of a really good season, went away to Germany, had the double hernia operation last
05:33pre-season and found it difficult not being on the training pitch, you know, at the start of
05:39Sisco's tenure that I wasn't able to kind of affect things on the pitch. It was difficult
05:45off the pitch because I wasn't on the training ground. I wasn't kind of learning the way that
05:50he wanted to play and things. So, when I was given a chance in the team and the team wasn't doing
05:55great, it just kind of never worked. In terms of an actual person, I really got on with him again.
06:03I had a good relationship with him off the pitch and enjoyed working with his staff, but
06:07just for whatever reason, it didn't quite work out. And, yeah, Danny's come in, obviously,
06:14again, someone that's very driven, new ideas, obviously a lot younger.
06:27In the beginning, it was tough. Obviously, I'd not played much under Sisco and found myself
06:33out the side for the first six games, you know, not even making the bench, not making squads and
06:40off the back of a really successful season and getting the Player of the Year, it was
06:44something that I found difficult in the early part of Danny's kind of
06:51management. And then, yeah, I got my chance and was able to stay in the team really as
06:58results picked up and it opened my eyes to a new way of working and learning. And that was
07:05something that I was keen to get across to Danny, that, you know, I'm open to learning new ways and
07:13the demand that comes with it. I think he just saw an older player that had been there a long
07:17time and probably assumed that I would, you know, struggle to adapt. But me being me,
07:25like we spoke before, you know, I think now he can see and obviously the back end of the season,
07:32the way everything turned around, yeah, I really enjoy working under him.
07:39And, yeah, I think he'll manage at the top level. For sure, no doubt in my mind,
07:45the team is assembled around him. A lot of older heads, obviously, ex-managers in Henrik and
07:50Chris Powell and Neil Thompson. So they do work really well together.
07:57And, yeah, I'm looking forward to what this season can bring.
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