Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill on importance of 'showing kindness' to other managers

League One has already seen seven managerial changes so far this season – with football management being a notoriously insecure career path.

And the Shrewsbury Town boss says it is important to speak to other managers when they are out of work and show ‘kindness’ in the hope they return the favour.

He said: “When you are in work, it is 24/7 all the time, there are no stoppages in it whatsoever, and even when you’re not doing something you are thinking about it in the back of your mind.

“When you don’t work, and there is nothing to think about you find yourself at a loose end, and we hear a lot about mental health.

“It is funny because sometimes you cannot handle your workload so you need good staff around you to help you, and then you can’t handle it when you have nothing to do.

“And that is when you need to show kindness to those people who are not working or have been really unlucky to have lost their job. Phone them. Phone them and ask them how they are.

“When managers go, I normally leave it a couple of days or so to see how they are.”

The experienced Cotterill has managed more than 800 league football matches since he began at Cheltenham in 1997.

The boss says he always tries to attend a game regardless of whether he is in a job or not.

And he most recently spoke to Grant McCann when he was let go by Peterborough United.

He said: “I love my football, I always have done.

“For me, it is an integral part of my life, whether I am working and managing or not, as I would still go to a game every week.

“I have invited lots of managers to come in to keep their coaching hand in when we have a clear week on a Tuesday.

“Put your best session on for the lads, and if it is good you can learn something else from somebody else if you know what I mean.

“I have always offered that and I have always offered tickets to out-of-work managers.

“I always invite them in – I have done that right from my Cheltenham days, as I think it is really important.

“While we are against each other, there is no reason why there cannot be that strength and that bond because you know they are going to be back in, and you won’t be working, and you will want the same kind of treatment.

“Strangely enough at Peterborough, a year ago I rang Darren Ferguson and then I rang Grant McCann the other day.”