Charlie Mulgrew has revealed he wants to make the leap into management with St Johnstone – just two months after retiring from playing.
The ex-defender called time on his playing career aged 37 in September after leaving Dundee United.
Having played under a host of top managers at eight different clubs in his 20-year career, he reckons the time is right to take his experience into the dugout.
Celtic hero Scott Brown is the current bookies favourite to succeed Steven MacLean in the Perth hot seat.
And though the vacancy at Saints has more than likely come too soon for Mulgrew, he still believes he has what it takes to turn the McDiarmid Park side’s fortunes around.
He said: “I would love to get into management and coaching and would love the opportunity at St Johnstone – that’s a job that would excite me.”
“I’ve got clear ideas on how I see my team and clear ideas on how I want to manage people and create an honest culture within the club – everybody being their true authentic self.
“I want to be a manager, the leader and give the boys a feeling of security by knowing exactly what their job is on the pitch.
“It’s about letting them play with freedom within a style of football based on positioning and control in and out of possession and I’m adamant on how I want to do that.”
As well as ideas on how he wants his teams to play, Mulgrew knows the value of man-management.
He told www.luckyblock.com: “A massive part of being a manager is caring for your players. In my whole career as a player and player-coach, in the changing room has been about learning how to care for people to get the best out of them, and that’s something I can take into management as well.
“You can have all the philosophies, the way you want them to play and the special tactics and 100 page-thick document on how you see your team playing, but if you don’t connect with your players and you don’t have a respect and a connection with your players, it’s all a waste of time.”
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