Friday 23 March 2018 20:17, UK
As paths into management go, Michael Jolley's has not been one of the more conventional ones.
Grimsby Town's new boss spent 15 years in the game, including stints at Burnley and in Sweden, but before that he was a city trader.
"The way people phrase the question is: 'How did a trader end up as a football manager?' But I'd flip it and say: 'How does somebody obsessed with football end up being a trader?' Because that's the way it happened," he told Soccer Saturday.
"Football has always been a massive part of my life, my father worked in football and when it was clear it wouldn't work for me in the game I decided to channel my energy into something else. But it was always in the back of my mind that I would try and find a way back into football at some point. I wasn't sure how but, happily, I've managed to do it.
"Hopefully all the experiences I've had can help me in this new situation I find myself in. When you've worked long days in an office and the most you get is a pat on the back at the end of it, to work in football is a real privilege and every day I work in football I consider myself really lucky to be here."
Jolley, now 40, was a youth-team player at Barnsley but was released at the age of 16. From there he went to university at Cambridge and then spent six years working for a bank in London and then New York.
Several years coaching resulted in him becoming the manager of Burnley's U23 side, before his first management job at AFC Eskilstuna in Sweden. Jolley left that job in January and, two months later, was taking charge of Grimsby Town in League Two.
"I went a different route and I probably thought football was closed off to me and I understand why that was the case," he said. "I've had to work hard and I've spent a long time building up to this point, but I feel like I've earned my coaching stripes after 15 years on the grass.
"But I'm aware there are a lot of people who want the job I've got and I've got to do everything I can to repay the faith Grimsby have shown in me. I'm sure a lot of people haven't heard of me and aren't aware of what I've done, so it's up to me to prove I was a good choice.
"I've come into a situation where we're in a relegation battle at the bottom of League Two and we need to hit the ground running, but everybody at the club and in the town has been very welcoming, I've settled in quickly and the focus is very much on working to get us some points as quickly as we can."
Sean Dyche played a key role in getting Jolley the job in Sweden, and he cites the Burnley boss, who has steered the Clarets to seventh in the Premier League, as a key influence on his career.
"There have been several [influences] over the 15 years but the one that does spring to mind were the last three years at Burnley working under Sean Dyche," he said.
"I've gone on record saying that I was very lucky to have that experience, and I could go through my whole career and not see management does as well as it is by him. There is a real clarity to the way everyone at that club thinks and if we can replicate anything near what they've done at Grimsby I think it will be a big success.
"He's been very supportive and I appreciate that. I wouldn't want to take the mickey and call him every day because he's a busy Premier League manager, but I'd like to think that if I needed advice he would answer that phone, and I'm grateful for that."
Jolley also believes English coaches need to take an unconventional route to get into management now, even to just get a job at a club as low in the EFL as Grimsby, who are currently 22nd in Sky Bet League Two.
"English coaches have to look at all ways of moving up and progressing their career, because I don't think I would have stepped out of my role at Burnley and into a management job in this country without some kind of intermediate step," he said.
"It's becoming increasingly difficult to get and keep good jobs in this country, we have to look at it and if it's the right opportunity then I'd encourage people to go for it."
Watch the full interview with Michael Jolley on Soccer Saturday from 2pm on Saturday on Sky Sports News
