MARK McGHEE is not known for ever being lost for words and yet that is where he found himself when asked to explain what it had felt to be without a full-time job in football.

After a pause and a bit of thought, Motherwell's new manager carefully considered that he was about to go “mental” as the best part of three years came and went since he left his last managerial post Bristol Rovers.

Home for the McGhees, wife Maria and son Archie, is Brighton, a fantastic city full of life, colour, a half-decent climate, and it’s beside the sea. Life for the man of the house was the school run, playing golf, doing as bit of media and, of course, assisting Gordon Strachan with the international squad.

This would appear to some as a perfect existence. He will not be short of a bob or two and having been manager for eight clubs and, wait for it, 888 games, so this 58-year-old could easily have seen out the rest of his days in semi-retirement. Most of us would do just that given half the chance.

However, when the opportunity came for a return to Motherwell, McGhee did not think twice about getting back into the madhouse which, somewhat ironically, stopped him from going mad.

“Maria was very aware that I was starting to go mental. I was playing charity golf days and that just doesn't do it for me. She knew I had to work,” said McGhee. “If I got a job in Sheffield, it would take me longer to get home than it does from here. So it's very do-able for me.

“It's still a big decision because my little boy Archie is at school and we won't move him. But we'll make it work. She'll bring him up, I'll be down when I can. Of course, I'll spend the majority of time in Scotland.

“Needs must. For a lot of reasons, you have to work. The Scotland thing saved me. I'd have been demented by now if that hadn't come along. It's been fantastic for me, I've enjoyed the experience. But it's been good for my mental well-being, it has kept me engaged.

“I needed that and I've been ready to get back involved for some time now. I would take Archie to school in the morning and go to a game at night. But I'd have all day to wait.

“I've indulged myself in terms of going to games. One day I went to three – I was trying to set a record. I was at Charlton v Millwall at 12, West Ham v Everton at 3pm then Chelsea v West Brom at 5.30pm. It is great going to these places and seeing these teams but indulgent really. I want to be working. It is what I do.”

McGhee’s managerial career is a strange one in that he’s either been a success of failure. There has been no in-between. Perhaps failure is a harsh word for what happened at some of his former clubs, but the spell at Aberdeen, he just missed out to Tony Mowbray on the Celtic job, should be filed into the category marked forgettable.

His time at Motherwell will always be overshadowed by the death of Phil O’Donnell, McGhee’s leadership at that time was nothing short of immense, but he would rather it be remembered for the football that Motherwell team played. It is a style he wishes to return to Fir Park.

“Phil’s passing sits above football. That is not part of my football memory, it’s part of my life memory,” said McGhee. “That was a shocking thing for us all and it remains something I will never forget, the experience of being the manager of the football club when that happened.

“My memories here are mostly about the great performances, not necessarily about the results. I remember a night at Hibs when one of you guys described our play as “football with pyrotechnics” and I loved that.

“Some of the football we played during that season was terrific and even the day Phil passed away, the performance against Dundee United, which was lost in the circumstances, was absolutely outstanding. That was down to the quality of football.”

One of McGhee’s first jobs is to get the best from Scott McDonald, a prickly character who can be difficult to handle, but if handled carefully will deliver on the park.

"I think all his managers have found him testing, even Gordon,” said McGhee. “What is it he calls him? Stephen Hawking. He’ll say ‘tell Stephen Hawking I am asking for him.’

“So I think Scott is one of those boys you have to understand. At the end of the day he is going to have to work with me. Like all these characters he is easier to work with when he is in the team.

"So when he is out of the team he will be more difficult but communication is the key to so many of these situations and I think we will be alright.”

Sorting out a know-it-all Aussie with a smart mouth apparently beats a life of leisure any day of the week.