Jim McGuinness has left Gaelic games and Ireland behind for the Chinese Super League....although not entirely.
He has taken up his post as assistant manager with Beijing Guoan, and it has started in style, with a 2-0 win over league leaders Guangzhou Evergrande kicking off life under the Schmidt/McGuinness axis.
While he is immersing himself in his new job, McGuinness is keeping half an eye on proceedings back home, and showered Kevin McStay in praise for his role in bringing a Connacht title back to Roscommon for the first time in seven years in his Irish Times column today.
McGuinness also offers an insight into life at Beijing in the column, as he talks about dealing with the language barrier at the club...something he didn't have to confront in Donegal.
It's not really a barrier: just a different means of communication. There are three or four Chinese interpreters at the club and they are always at hand. But there is also a Portuguese for the two Brazilian players, a Spanish translator and a Turkish translator for the others. So you have a lot of voices at team meetings and in the dressing room.
But it becomes the norm really quickly. Then you have English and German being spoken also.
So Roger will say something and then everyone will begin to chat away in translation.
It's a bit like being in a wake house and somebody starts a decade of the rosary and then the other voices start up.
Read the full column in today's Irish Times.
