“I have mainly been watching players to stay in touch with the market. Wherever you go for your next management job you have got to be able to move in the critical areas of where you need to strengthen your team and what is available. If you haven’t got that knowledge then you are going to start making mistakes. If you start making mistakes, then right from the very start when you take over a new club, you are going to make life extremely difficult for yourself.

For me this period out of management has been about watching lots and lots of games on TV, on DVD, travelling the world watching Premier League and European football as well. I have also taken, as much as possible, a complete rest myself without getting too agitated or too uptight about not being involved at the moment. I have re-focused and I am getting myself ready to start again with a fully charged battery.”

Talent identification can be influenced hour by hour and day by day if players you are watching get an injury, so you really do have to constantly stay abreast of it don’t you.....

“Yes without a doubt. I think that Sven Goran Eriksson did the same whilst he was out of the game. When he came in to Manchester City a week or two before the season started, to have an enormous input in the transfer market the way he did, he must have had some previous knowledge of his targets. I think he had travelled around the world and watched a lot of games and DVD’s to research the key areas that he would want to strengthen with and the sort of quality of player that is needed in the Premier League.

The Premier League title race is now down to Manchester United and Chelsea and you as Bolton manager had a 40% success rate of getting results against both sides. What is your view on each side’s credentials?

“I think from Manchester United’s point of view that they do have the youngest, biggest, most talented squad. The one factor that people forget about Manchester United is that they have conceded only 19 Premier League goals so everybody talks about United’s flair and ability which is easy to see. Nobody talks about their grit and determination out of possession and how good a team they are at closing down from the front and regaining possession to keep the pressure off the back four. The back four, then when needed, are fresher than everybody else’s defence because they are not exposed as much. So hence you get these massive amounts of clean sheets and few goals conceded. They have certainly got both ends of the team right at the moment.

It should have actually been Arsenal’s title but for their own frailties really. They have got the young talented squad but not the same strength in depth of Manchester United so they have now ultimately faltered at the final hurdle. When it comes to Chelsea, it’s the vast experience that they have gained over the last few years under Jose Mourinho and that they’ve continued under Avram that has taken them to the brink of the title and the Champions League now. The balance of power has shifted away now from Arsenal over to Chelsea but don’t forget it is often very difficult to lead from the front and sustain it. Coming from behind, as we have seen in many years, can often be a better thing and that is why Chelsea and Manchester United have ended up sprinting past Arsenal.”

Should Sir Alex win the league this year it will be his 10th Premier League title and in May it will also be the 25th anniversary of him being the last manager outside of Rangers and Celtic to win the Scottish League and break that duopoly. What can managers throughout the world learn from Sir Alex Ferguson’s career to date?

“I have become reasonably friendly with Alex over the last 5 or 6 years and have tried to take in as many conversations with him as I possibly can and tried to find out as much as I can about why he is so great. I think he is so great due to his work ethic, how he was brought up, what he learned and remembered as he was brought up and by his extraordinary talent in staying ahead of the game. At 66 years old he has stayed ahead of the game and I think that many managers who have been successful in the past have stayed with the same formula of success. That formula then becomes stale and outdated and then they begin to fail. Alex however has always changed the style of his management, changed his staff and changed things around on a regular basis and that’s why he has lasted so long and been so successful.

Without any question of a doubt his man management skills are superb. He knows where and when to make the decisions that he has to make on the basis of all aspects of management. Very often he makes fewer mistakes than anybody else and that’s why he stays ahead of it.”

Sam Allardyce