To football fans. The book is rich with Irish history on the sport and has important lessons to be learned from. Boxing is really tough,” he says. “And the rewards are very difficult to come by. But as regards football, the glamour, the crowds, the teammates, the camaraderie, I was just into that, you know? Read over the course of 5 days, the experience of The Rodfather was one that I've never had before. To me this was the type of book where you could fly through a chapter, put the book down, and 10 minutes later you would think to yourself, "One more chapter couldn't hurt". This is what aided me in finishing the book in under a week.

I had a serious battle on my hands. I knew I couldn’t improve the technical ability of the players I’d inherited. The only thing I could improve was their effort – and against Luton that was almost completely absent. There were three or four players who I thought were deliberately swinging the lead.It never unsettled me,” he tells The42. “I loved it, to be honest. Once it was only abuse and songs and that it was grand, once it never involved my kids or wife. It’s all a big theatre and we’re all part of it — the players, the referee, the crowd, the managers, the fourth officials are all part of the big pantomime. But when it’s a choice that you make yourself to try to fulfil a dream that you have or an ambition, it would be disingenuous to turn around when it’s over and go: ‘That was a tough life.’ There were tough moments alright, but it was brilliant.

About two weeks later I was invited over to Carlisle for talks. Neville Chamberlain’s sister Delphine was working as an agent and I asked her to represent me. She collected me at Manchester Airport and drove me to Carlisle, where I met the chairman, Andrew Jenkins, a local man who made his fortune in the meat business. He showed me around Brunton Park. It was a proper 17,000-seater stadium. I had butterflies in my stomach. It definitely shapes your life because you get to a stage in life where every day you’re worried. ‘Am I going to see my child again? Are they going to see me again?’ His new book, ‘The Rodfather’ written in collaboration with the journalist and author Paul Howard, opens with the Dubliner turning on the TV recently to see a match where Drogheda United fans launch into a song: ‘Roddy Collins — is a wanker, is a wanker,” they chant. I wasn’t laughing,’ he said. ‘I smiled – because no one has ever spoken to the lads like that. And it needed to be done.’ Collins’ time in management, meanwhile, was more successful than his playing career but similarly turbulent.

Bonus Rounds & Free Spins

He offered me the job and I said I’d take it. I’d read in the paper that Michael Knighton wanted Peter Beardsley but presumably Beardsley wanted more than two hundred quid per week. And boxing is something I still love to this day and I go to the Celtic Warriors Gym on a regular basis, mix with all the boxers, great people. But for me, the glamour of football, the razzmatazz was my thing.”