Fotheringham admits he picked up the coaching bug on his travels in Germany

former Bayern Munich player, and he had already been working in the background to bring in a big name because the fans wanted one. Tomas isn’t a name.

“So basically, Mirko Slomka – who had managed clubs like Schalke and Hamburg – came in but ended up with a worse record than us and got them relegated.

“They’re all raving about the job we did do now but it’s too late.

“It was strange, though, because we kind of felt something was going on.

“Then when the manager called me to tell me himself and Bernd Winter, his assistant, had been sacked, he said: ‘ I don’t know if it’s bad news or good news but you’re being kept on because Slomka wants to work with you and so does Kreuzer.’

“I said: ‘This is a tough one, boss. I only stopped playing football to come with you. If it wasn’t you I wouldn’t have stopped playing because I’m only 32.’

“I speak German fluently but I also had a young boy and a pregnant wife at the time, who was getting a bit homesick because she doesn’t speak the language, so I went to the club after two weeks and said it wasn’t going to work.

“I had a three-year deal and we came to an agreement.

“But it was an unbelievable experience. We got 32,000 fans at home against Stuttgart, we were playing FC Nurnberg, Hannover, Fortuna Dusseldorf and 1860 Munich.

“We were working with a big budget, big players, international players but we had great young players who we improved physically and tactically. But as soon as Jens Todt left the writing was on the wall.

“They made their bed and they are lying in it now. It’s so hard to believe they are in the third tier because they are such a big club but Slomka is going to have to be accountable for that. He’s a Champions League manager and it won’t have done his stock any favours.”

Fotheringham could still be playing the game but the excitement he’s had from his first serious coaching job has given him the taste for more.

He admitted: “I get a buzz out of helping young lads.

“We had a German Under-21 internatonal, Grischa Promel, and I used to shadow him in training, try to help him – all the stuff that guys like Peter Grant used to do for me.

“When he would take it into a game and when it was helping him, he would come over and say: ‘Thanks, coach, it’s so good.’

“This is a different buzz altogether from what you get as a player. It’s a great feeling.

“I’m actually hoping my manager doesn’t get a job at the moment, though, because my wife has just had our second wee boy! “He has been talking to Bursaspor in Turkey and a lot of other teams and I’ve told him I want to go with him again.

“I don’t feel like I’m ready for a No.1 job at a big club just now.

“I want to go and get more experience from Tomas because I am only 33.

“I need as much experience as I can get from working under him, or there might be an opportunity to go to China with Felix Magathe, who knows?

“Marcus Babbel has also made contact. If he ever goes to England he has said he would want me as part of his staff.

“I’ve options there but first and foremost I want to make sure my two wee boys are okay and the family are settled.”