Now manager of League One side Southend, Phil Brown was once thought of as one of those up and coming English managers who might one day take the helm of their national side.
Just like him emerging tanned for a third tier game against Rochdale in mid-January, Brown's self-regard has never been in doubt.
In his column for the Sunday Independent, Stephen Hunt tells a story which confirms what many would have suspected about Brown. Hunt played under Brown at Hull during the 2009/10 Premier League season.
The Waterford man says that Brown was probably the best coach he's played for from a tactical perspective and also a manager who got the best out of him. Though he also adds that Brown often did things which made many players wonder 'what are you doing?'
At half-time during a game against Wolves during that season at Hull, Brown entered the dressing room and made a statement which had many, including Hunt and Kevin Kilbane, suppressing a compulsion to laugh out loud.
I remember at Wolves once and he came in at half-time furious with us. "How can I manage England with you lot?" he said. It was no joke to him. He said it in the heat of battle, but most of us had to stifle the laughter. I was sitting next to Kevin Kilbane, who was tapping my leg with his leg trying to make me laugh out loud.
But the bottom line is he was a good coach, and he believed in himself and, like a player who wants to play for his country, he wanted to manage England. He saw nothing wrong in setting out his ambitions, even if we didn't always have the same belief in him as he clearly did.
That season, which would finish with Hull being relegated from the Premier League, ended early for Brown as he was relieved of his duties in March with the club bottom of the division.
