Swansea City boss Garry Monk says he's long been preparing for a coaching career.
Monk has defied the cynics by building on the work of Michael Laudrup at Swansea this season.
"At the end of last season I was already signed to do some coaching in the academy and my mind was wandering towards a job there," Monk told the Mail on Sunday. "Then obviously this happened and priorities change.
"From the age of 26 I had an arrangement with the club that they paid for my coaching badges. I don't think they would have done that unless they thought I had potential to be a coach or manager. I'd always wanted to be a manager but obviously I thought the process would be a lot different, that I'd go through the system."
