AS MY old friend Frank Burrows brings West Brom to St Mary's today, I admit taken more than a passing interest in the happenings at the Hawthorns this week.

Gary Megson, the manager who took them to two promotions, left his post in strange circumstances and my mind went back to my early days as coach at Sheffield Wednesday when his father Don was our left back and captain.

On a Sunday morning our legendary manager Alan Brown would conduct coaching sessions for schoolboys in the huge gym at Hillsborough and my son, Chris, was in the same group as little Gary, who stood out with his red hair.

Now, while Gary is on gardening leave, the team has been put in the capable hands of his assistant Frank Burrows.

Frank is no stranger to these parts. He was part of a formidable centre-half combination alongside Stan Harland in the Swindon Town side who famously beat Arsenal in the League Cup final at Wembley, and has been coaching and managing for more years than most people in the business.

He will be remembered down here for his time as manager of Portsmouth during which he and I shared many a cup of tea together.

When he left Fratton Park for the first time, I was on my summer holidays, sitting with a soft drink by the pool in Florida considering my own staff situation.

Ian Branfoot, who had been in charge of my reserve team, had just got the manager's job at Reading and I always thought hard about staff positions at reserve and junior level. They were as important as any in the club.

It's why I recruited people like Dave Merringtonm who did such good work teaching the players how to behave off the field as well as on it.

Knowing that Frank was free, I made my mind up to contact him as soon as I got back from holiday, but something made me pick up the phone instead and dial his home. When he came to the phone he apologised for the noise in the backround. He had all his friends and neighbours in for a leaving party.

He and his wife Wendy were about to go abroad for him to take up a coaching appointment.

He had just returned from Scotland where he had taken his car for his father to use and I think he'd probably sold his house as well.

Anyway, his living room was piled up with leaving presents. When he had finished telling me the news, I said,

"Well, that mucks up my call. I was going to offer you the job of reserve team manager at The Dell."

It threw him and the phone went quiet. Eventually he said: "Lawrie, will you give me a bit of time?" I said:

"Certainly, I'll ring you back later," and when I did, the noise in the background had got even louder. He had put the phone down earlier, gone back in the room, asked for silence, thanked everyone for their presents and said:

"You'll be pleased to know, we're not moving after all!"

He was a fantastic man to have around the place and, any players who have ever worked under him have nothing but respect.

Andy Townsend recently reminded me how after buying him from Weymouth, I handed him over to Frank who whipped him into shape.

He has been a manager in his own right and has come through a severe health scare. It was good to see him alongside Mourinho last weekend when although Chelsea won convincingly in the end, Frank could still handle aftermatch interviews with the football-type humour that real people in the game have.

When asked by interviewer how him and Jose had got on, Frank said: "Well, we've both got grey hair and he's 20 years younger than me!"

So whatever is in the future for Frank, there will always be a place in the game as long as he wants to carry on.