Steve Cotterill has fully recovered from a recent health scare and is ready to work again, provided it is for the right people.
The former Cheltenham Town manager has been out football management since leaving Birmingham City in March 2018.
Whether he is in full-time employment or not, Cotterill takes his health very seriously, but he adopts a particularly stringent fitness regime between jobs.
His daily gym sessions were interrupted by a considerable pain in the neck and he soon realised it was not going to heal itself.
“I ruptured a disc in my neck and it set me back for a few months because I needed a period of rehabilitation,” he said.
“The pain was going through my shoulder, all the way down my arm and into my thumb and forefinger.”
“I wasn’t sleeping and I have never been one to take painkillers, but I needed strong ones.
“The specialist went in through my throat, the thought of which made me panic a bit when he told me, and put a new disc in.
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“He told me I’d need six weeks off from the gym, but I was back at it within two-and-a-half.”
Cotterill, 55, is feeling better than he has for many years.
“The discomfort had been there for a long time and then suddenly got worse, so I feel great now having had it repaired,” he said.
“It’s healed nicely and am getting stronger every day in the gym, with some definition back in my arms now.”
Cotterill has many reasons for keeping himself in tip-top shape, having suffered the premature loss of several family members.
“I lost my father at 11 and my grandfather, who took his place really, at 26,” he said.
“My mother was dying when I was at Stoke and my Nan died of a broken heart a couple of months later.
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“I would have had a sibling but when I was three, my mum had a fallopian pregnancy and had to have a hysterectomy.
“That meant she couldn’t have any more children and I’d have loved and cherished having a younger brother or sister.
"This isn't a Steve Cotterill sob story, this is me urging people to look after themselves and exercise, even if it's only a small amout.
“By the time I was 38 all my family had gone and I made a decision that I am hanging around. I want to live to a grand old age.
“I’ve been incredibly lucky in my life in that I never get ill and I don’t feel any different now to 10 or 15 years ago.
“I am fit, healthy, strong and feeling absolutely great.”
Cotterill uses a static bike to raise his heart rate, combined with a thorough weights routine to maintain his strength and he has also been swimming regularly during his recent rehabilitation.
“I used to run outdoors and do hundreds of push ups every day,” he said.
“Now it’s the Wattbike and I am not sure what’s worse really!
“It’s nice to still be able to get into your jeans, but keeping my weight down is mainly because I have a history in my family of losing people at an early age.
“I have health checks in Harley Street with the League Managers’ Association and I also make a conscious effort to eat healthily and limit my alcohol intake.
“The only time I’ll have a beer is when I am back in the boardroom at Cheltenham.”
With normal service resumed at his local David Lloyd fitness club in Bristol, Cotterill is itching for a return to the technical area.
“Now I am fit and healthy I want to get back in and work for the right people,” he said.
“I still have the energy and the hunger, which is why I am in the gym so much and I miss management every single day.
“I am a football nut and the level doesn’t matter to me. I went to Notts County in League Two.
“When I went to Bristol City we were second from bottom of League One and actually went bottom after my first game (a 2-1 defeat at home to Rotherham United).
“I rarely apply for jobs because nine out of 10 of them may already be done and dusted these days and a lot goes on with agents having connections.
“I might be 55, but I feel quite young for it and as I said, I’ve been so lucky with my health.
“I wasn’t with my knees when I played, but since then I have been, so maybe that’s how it had to be.
“If the right job came up now to go back into work, I’d really look forward to it and I am hoping it’s a good one.”
As well as three promotions between 1997 and 2002 at Cheltenham and a League Two title success at Notts County in 2009/10, Cotterill led Bristol City to the League One title and EFL Trophy success in 2014/15.
“I want to add to my five promotions, but I also have a hunger for developing young players,” he said.
“I had that at Cheltenham because I was there for five-and-a-half years and I had it at Burnley because I was there for four.
“Should I have had longer than two-and-a-half at Bristol City? 100 per cent yes, without question.
“I see those players now and many didn’t have Championship experience when we first went up.
“But I always said they’d be good players at that level, so now you look at Luke Ayling, who has just signed a new contract at Leeds United.
“Aden Flint has been at Middlesbrough and he’s now at Cardiff City, who I saw play QPR on Tuesday night and win 3-0, with Marlon Pack scoring.
“Derek Williams is at Blackburn Rovers and Luke Freeman at Sheffield United and we caught up and spent a morning together when we were on holiday in the same place.
“Jonathan Kodjia had nothing really going in France, but now he’s in the Premier League with Aston Villa, on his way back from injury.
“You also have Joe Bryan at Fulham, Bobby Reid at Cardiff, all those players. Aaron Wilbraham is about to turn 40 and what a great pro he’s been, brilliant career.
“I am sure there are some I’ve missed out, but when you have a long period somewhere, you help the lads and they help you.
“Those lads would run through a brick wall for you and I’d have done the same for them.
“I am looking forward to going somewhere and having that relationship with young players, helping them through problems they get from time to time in their lives, which maybe people don’t see as being part of the job.
“I had that at Birmingham City, helping lads who trusted me and opened up to me with problems people will never know about.
“I am 100 per cent ready, focused and determined and nothing will change with that.”