John Hughes admits he's grown 'frustrated' at being out of management

“I do miss it, I’ll be honest about that,” he admits. “You get a bit frustrated about being overlooked, but that’s part and parcel of football.”

It has not been for lack of trying. The 58-year-old applied for vacant posts at Aberdeen and Motherwell recently, the former accompanied by a passionate address on live BBC radio, and the insistence that ‘I’ve been called many things, but I’m not a dinosaur.’

Those roles eventually went to Barry Robson and Stuart Kettlewell, who have since quickly transformed the fortunes of two badly toiling clubs, something Hughes is adamant he will not grumble about. After all, it was a young ‘Yogi’ who was given a chance by Falkirk when he was just 39, an opportunity that launched his managerial career. He does, however, feel he still has plenty to offer in the dugout.

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“First and foremost,” said Hughes. “I loved my time at Dunfermline, I don't have a bad word to say about it. This time of year, though, you're looking at the movers and shakers.

"I just want to get back in. You’re interested in the jobs that come up.

“Aberdeen and Motherwell were two, but the guys who have gone in there have been absolutely fantastic. One thing I really do advocate is I’m massive on giving young coaches a chance. I was always appreciative of the chance I got at Falkirk.

“I don’t mind young coaches getting a chance. Stuart Kettlewell and Barry Robson, it’s fantastic and I’m really pleased for them. That’s the way football goes.

“The two of them have done really well. I’m not the type who gets bitter or anything like that.

“If it was me in there doing a job, and doing as well as they have, I would be disappointed if I never got the chance. I take my hat off to them.

“I’ve noticed, in football, it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Something will come up, I’m sure of that.

“Sometimes, experience is overlooked, and I’ve got all the experience in the world. I’ve been successful with so-called provincial clubs.”

Revamped resume to hand, Hughes is not shy in shouting about those successes, and despite the fact there are three relegations on it, he is adamant there are more to those than meets the eye. At Hartlepool United, Raith Rovers and latterly Dunfermline, his task was a salvage job at three sides who were already in bother. You can tell he is craving a chance to start something from scratch.

“I have to be honest, sometimes it frustrates the life out of me, when you have all that experience and success – and failures, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “Even when I’ve looked at the teams where I’ve went in to try and keep them up, I was thinking ‘I need to get my CV updated’.

Hughes kept Ross County in the Premiership (Image: SNS)

“So, I went away back to when I went into Hartlepool, my mate crunches all the numbers together for me and said: ‘you need to get that on your CV’.

“My results were 140 per cent better than the previous manager, but we still got relegated. It was 130 per cent better than the previous manager at Dunfermline, but we still got relegated.

“It was 85 per cent better at Ross County and, funnily enough, it was Stuart Kettlewell I took over from, and I kept them up. The only one that never moved was at Raith Rovers.

“I’ve never been that analytic or crunched the numbers, but when I was tidying up my CV, he said: ‘You need all that in’. If I was in there at the start of the season, Hartlepool would have finished midtable, Dunfermline would have finished fourth, and I kept Ross County up.

“The only one that never moved was Raith. But as the manager, you get left holding the baby, that’s part and parcel of football.

“At Dunfermline, Peter Grant left me a right good bunch of boys, they were just low on confidence. With the win rate there, I would’ve finished fourth with them.

“It’s all these wee things. It’s interesting that when you bring all that together and you’re sitting in front of the guys who run football clubs, these guys want to know the numbers. I’m saying to myself ‘well, you’ve given it your best shot’.”

“That’s the way football goes. One minute, you’re in the limelight, the next you’re not. You just need to roll with it.

“If somebody fancies you, you’ll get a chance. I still think I’ve got plenty to go, and hopefully that chance will come and before you know it, you’re off and running.

“I’m not pointing the finger of blame at anybody. I’m not one of these guys who holds grudges if I get overlooked for a job. If it’s not going to be me, then I do want the best for people, I want the best for Scottish football because I love it.

“I honestly do, I like to see clubs doing well. If something comes my way, I’ll be grateful. If not, you just get on with it, don’t you?

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“There’s better managers and coaches than me who are out of work! You have to be grateful for what you’ve had, and what you’ve done. But I still think I’ve got plenty to give.

“I’m not finished yet, and I hope somebody sees that.”

Hughes bounces from one topic to the next with trademark enthusiasm, and it stands to reason all that energy needs an outlet when not being channelled into the day-to-day of football management. Golf and cycling fill the void for a time, but he always circles back to the beautiful game in the end.

“I’m one of these guys that when I go into something, if it’s not football, I’m 24/7,” he laughed. “I was into cycling, and I am still am, but I end up thinking I’m going to be in the Tour de France. I’m back into golf, as well.

“I keep myself busy, ducking and diving. I always keep up with the trends in football.

“But when you get the chance to sit back and enjoy spending time with the family, you need to go and do that as well. Go and do it.

“Sometimes, that’s maybe a fault of mine: when I do come out of it I go into something else and fall out with football. But it grabs you back in.

“I try to stay away from it, to tell you the truth, because when I go back and starting watching  games I get frustrated. I find it better to stay away.”

Watching from afar, though, he surveys a Scottish football landscape that, while in rude health, is more cutthroat than ever. Even as a former Hibs player and manager, Robbie Neilson’s sacking from Hearts left Hughes shaking his head at the brutal side of the modern game that sidelined managers certainly do not miss.

Hughes made his early reputation by putting faith a crop of young players at Falkirk, including the likes of Scott Arfield, and it was he who brought Ryan Christie into the first-team setup at Inverness. Recently publicised statistics that over half of Premiership clubs have afforded a start to just one Scottish U-21 player this season did not bypass Hughes either. But he suspects that managers forever hanging on such a shoogly peg ties directly into the issue.

“Managers don’t get time,” he said. “I look at Robbie getting the sack at Hearts and think ‘that’s a wee bit hard’. These guys needed to sit back with Robbie and figure out what’s going wrong, no kneejerk reactions but that it needs to improve until the end of the season.

“I read the statement from the chief-executive, Andrew McKinlay, talking about how they need to get that third place, because there’s a big pot of money at the end of it. If you’ve got a big budget, the so-called third biggest in the league, you have to come up with the goods. I think Robbie’s been hard done by, I have to say.

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“There’s that much pressure on managers that they all go with experience. But it’s a young man’s game.

“When you get the young kids in, they’ve got a bit about them. They’ll make mistakes, but in terms of energy and commitment, they never let you down. It’s your job to go and coach them in the way you want your team to play.”

Unforgiving it may be, but you won’t find the man from Leith being scared off.

“I’ll need to get my CV in for that Hearts job!” he cackles.