"When I was 10-years-old, I remember sitting around the dinner table with my dad on a Friday night going through his set pieces for the next day. That's where it all started.
"He'd take me into the dressing room, where the tactical side of football, the planning, the preparation of the team, were all things that interested me right from the beginning.
"So much so I was taking sessions as player-manager of my school team at the age of 11. I know that makes me sound like a weirdo, but it was normal to me because I loved coaching.
"It all began back then I guess, and that passion for seeing players improve has never left me."
Destined to one day become a gaffer himself, that is the voice of Liam Rosenior, head coach of Ligue 1 side, Strasbourg.
Les Bleus and Blanc are currently flying high in French football's top-flight, pushing for a European place under the likeable 40-year-old, who is flourishing in his first role since leaving Hull City last May.
The son of former West Ham United striker Leroy - who managed Gloucester City, Bristol City reserves, Merthyr Tydfil and Torquay United while he was growing up - is now very much in his element, challenging himself in dugout duels against the likes of Luis Enrique and Roberto de Zerbi.
Bright, studious and talented, earning rave reviews for the way Strasbourg are performing, Rosenior's reputation is growing fast.
"In football you have to run, you have to play with intensity, and you have to make the right decisions at the right times. Wherever you are in the world, those principles remain the same. Football is football. That's one of the big things I’ve realised since coming to France," he says, as we discuss his learnings so far.
"There are some cultural differences of course. The way players are coached here is completely different, in matches the pitch is a little bit more open in terms of spaces, and there is the language barrier too.
"But what I have worked hardest on is trying to understand peoples' backgrounds and character, which for me is a fundamental process. Connecting with your players and getting buy-in from them is so important."
Rosenior took three members of staff with him to Strasbourg, and he is quick to hail the 'unbelievable' value each of them brings.
Justin Walker is his assistant, having worked well together at Derby County and Hull City. And former Tigers analyst Ben Warner has also joined him in eastern France, just a stone's throw from the German border.
An ex-teammate from his playing days at Reading, Kalifa Cisse, has been recruited as a first team coach too - and the 41-year-old Frenchman has a vital role to play.
Outlining the situation, Rosenior reveals, "Although my French is coming along well and I now understand everything, I still want to do my player meetings in English. In that sense I am really lucky to have Kalifa because he translates every message I give on the training pitch, in our meetings, and in the dressing room.
"I'm very emotive in the way I speak, and if you lose that emotion by speaking in a second language, I feel there's a danger you will not connect as well with the players. Lots of them understand English which is great, but I’ve learned how body language, a smile at the right time or a facial expression, can also help build those relationships which are so crucial."
It is not just Rosenior and his backroom team who have had to adjust to a major transition.
In their professional era, RC Strasbourg has employed 47 different managers and the former Brighton & Hove Albion full back is the very first Englishmen to be placed in charge.
Since 2001 they had exclusively employed French head coaches.
This history is not lost on the man himself, who says, "It was a big change for the existing staff as we have a different way of thinking and working. In France it can be quite hierarchical, with the manager always shown tremendous respect. So, in the beginning it felt like some people were scared to have conversations with me.
"That's not how I want it to be because I'm a people person. At first, I think some found it strange that I'd stop off in the canteen and have a chat with the lady serving us drinks, asking about her family, as that kind of thing was not the norm, but they are used to it now.
"They understand my door is open and how relaxed we are, but at the same time there is also an expectation that everybody always works very hard."
Rewinding the clock to his playing days, Rosenior warmly reminisces about having post-training afternoon naps before heading over to Hull City's academy in the evening to coach the Under 13s.
Among his group at one point were Jacob Greaves and Brandon Fleming, who would later both go on to play under him in the first team. The 40-year-old smiles widely when saying how proud he felt when Greaves joined Premier League Ipswich Town last summer.
Rosenior also coached at Brighton & Hove Albion's academy as a player, moving up to lead the Seagulls' Under-23s while combining a punditry role for Sky Sports upon his retirement.
Then a call from Derby County in July 2019 altered the trajectory of his coaching career.
Initially recruited to offer support to head coach, Phillip Cocu, amid the backdrop of severe financial difficulties that led to administration, he soon found himself in an assistant manager role working alongside Wayne Rooney.
Taking up the story, he could not be more wholesome in his praise of the Manchester United and England legend.
"We have similar values as people, and in the way we want the game to be played, so in a short space of time Wayne and I developed complete trust," he says. "He gave me lots of experience on the coaching pitch which I’m so grateful for, and we worked very well together in difficult circumstances.
"I've always been open about my ambition to be a manager but that was never a problem with Wayne. I was his assistant and was very happy providing him with whatever support he needed.
"There were lots of times, and this sums up Wayne's humility, where he'd ask me to stand with him on the touchline to discuss what I was seeing. I was never 10 yards away giving out my own instructions, we always worked side by side.
"Wayne did not care what it may have looked like to others, he only cared about the substance of what we were doing. It’s something I do now myself, asking Justin or Kalifa to give their voice from the pitch side.
"Wayne is down to earth, vastly knowledgeable and has great strengths. I’ve got so much time for him."
Rooney resigned in June 2022, prompting Derby County to ask Rosenior if he would fill in as interim manager until they made a permanent appointment.
And that three-month spell proved to be a huge learning curve.
"At the start of pre-season, we had three players and next to no staff. It was just me and first team coach Pete Shuttleworth, and we signed 15 players within a month before trying to put a team together.
"Speaking to agents and players, trying to convince them Derby was the right club for them despite going through administration and new ownership, really helped accelerate my learning about management," he admits.
Paul Warne's arrival that autumn saw Rosenior depart, but within weeks Hull City appointed him as their new first team head coach.
"I enjoyed working with so many young players at Derby, so what I did in my first six months at Hull was visit a whole host of Premier League clubs," he remembers with enthusiasm.
"I went to Spurs, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool among others and did a presentation on my style of play, what we were trying to build, and why we’d be a good fit for their best loan prospects.
"Having created those good relationships, when Liam Delap, Tyler Morton and Fabio Carvalho became available, those parent clubs knew we'd look after them and help with their development. So, the time-consuming groundwork we did in those first six months came to fruition in the following season. That's the kind of unseen work you sometimes need to do, to make things happen."
Hull City improved dramatically under Rosenior, who pulled them out of relegation trouble to finish 15th in 2022/23, before narrowly missing out on a play-off spot last term, ending the campaign seventh in the second tier.
He was nominated for Championship Manager of the Season, but within days of 2023/24 concluding, the club's owner Acun Ilicali sacked him out of the blue.
"Things happen for a reason," Rosenior says with wry smile. "Honestly, I look back on my period in Hull with so much pride and joy.
"For the first six months we had to stop them getting relegated, and in the second year we played as attack-minded and as bravely as we could possibly be, home and away.
"I enjoyed watching us play. You need the right environment, culture and philosophy to maximise potential and I feel like we had that at Hull."
The next topic in what's been a very insightful conversation turns towards modern head coaches being defined by their own philosophies.
Where does he stand on that?
"There’s no right or wrong way of playing but I think you need key principles in place. It's no coincidence the most successful coaches have a fundamental way of working, a clear process and a clear identity," explains Rosenior.
"Everyone's their own person but if you're a coach that doesn't have a style and you're focused solely on results, long term success feels harder to achieve because you've got no benchmark for your players. You're just great if you win, and terrible if you lose. That's not a process of coaching.
"If you're changing your philosophy every game, pressing one week and sitting off deep the next, the players aren't learning their process either," he continues.
"What I believe in is to take risks, to play from the back, to try and dominate possession, to express yourself with the ball, and to be able to make mistakes. We've made a few mistakes here that have led to goals but I know the players will improve from those errors.
"That's the reason the guys were interested in me coming here, so it's great that they support what I do, and are aligned with what I believe in. It gives me the confidence to go and put my ideas into practice."
Should a style of play be set, no matter what? Or is that a step too far?
"There are times where I believe you can adapt to the game state, and if that means being more pragmatic than I want to be, I can accept that. This way, your longer-term process works, because you're getting success. Just finding the right balance between the two is sometimes tricky," he says
"Not long ago I remember going 2-0 up against Montpellier, and inside all I wanted to do was to keep attacking them. But at that juncture in our season, instinct told me I needed to lock up the game for the final 20 minutes, so I went 5-4-1 and we saw it out.
"That doesn't make me better or worse than anyone else, but these are the decisions which need to be made in the moment."
Rosenior’s success with Hull City and Strasbourg, is understandably creating a buzz around his future in management.
An outstanding communicator, with a devotion to learning his trade, the future does look exceptionally bright.
Yet you won't find this level-headed 40-year-old getting ahead of himself.
"Management gives you sleepless nights but with experience I am learning to accept I can’t always control whether we win or lose. That’s why I focus on the process, trying to enjoy everything we do along the way, without looking too far ahead or making big targets," he insists.
"The mental, physical and emotional demands of being a manager are so different. Win or lose, you have to be the person at the end of a game who stands in front of the group, providing them with the right energy, and the right messaging. And to do that properly, I am learning that you must rest and recover at the right times.
"I'm addicted to football, so that isn't easy to do, but managing myself better is something I continually work at."
Doing what he always wanted to do, Rosenior's mindset and continued thirst for development should ensure his journey as a head coach is a long and successful one.