THERE has been a lot of talk recently about the credentials needed for football management.

Paul Sturrock, who had already managed two clubs in Scotland as well as Plymouth in two of our lower divisions, was deemed by some critics to be too inexperienced for the Premiership.

Yet Mark Hughes has been widely praised for his suitability to manage Blackburn, while Graeme Souness has taken over one of the big ones in the shape of Newcastle where nothing less than top four will be acceptable in his first season.

At the same time, another ex-great player with a Saints connection, Kevin Keegan, is seemingly fighting for his existence at Manchester City.

Apart from all four being top class international footballers, I'm not sure how many coaching courses they attended after their playing days were over.

When I started, I was fortunate to have as my mentor Alan Brown at Sheffield Wednesday who encouraged all of his staff to go on coaching courses.

I already had the preliminary and full badges when I joined Wednesday, but each year after that I attended what was then called the 'trainers and coaches' course at Lilleshall.

This enabled all of us to meet each other in less confrontational situations, having passed like ships in the night during the season.

At the end of the week, apart from making many new friends from all different levels of the game, you could always take away whichever part of the course impressed you and adapt it to your own surroundings.

I well remember a famous incident when we were all assembled at Lilleshall one summer, booked into the dormitories like schoolboys, when on the first morning a ripple of excitement ran around the dining room.

We looked to see the arrival of a big car out of which stepped four gentlemen already changed into strips of bright red from top to bottom.

They were led by the one and only Bill Shankly with Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Ronnie Moran following.

Bill had decided to come along and see what all this coaching stuff was about.

They wandered around, had a look, shook a few hands, probably signed a few autographs, had lunch with a few of us, got back in the car and that was the last we ever saw of them.

They just carried on winning things like the Championship and the European Cup, but never completed the course.

In those days, there was never any need to attend these courses in order to become a manager.

The majority of appointments were people coming to the end of their playing career, who wished to stay in the game.

Recently the UEFA hierarchy have laid down new courses such as the B and A licenses and also the pro-licence.

They have decreed that no-one can manage without the pro-licence at the top level.

When the new rule came in during the last year or two, certain people were exempted. I know I'm on the exempt list having managed at the top level for over ten years and also at international level.

Knowing Graeme Souness and Kevin Keegan as I do, I'm not sure they have ever attended the types of course required, but both would be exempt.

Interestingly enough, the man with the least experience is Mark Hughes. He has handled international football, but when all the dust settles he has probably still only been a manager for about 36 games.

I'm quite sure that Mark will have completed his pro-licence and has attended all the courses. But does it make him better? I for one wish him well and he has certainly got the respect of the players.

Yet the old system of cutting your teeth at clubs in the lower divisions is certainly still, in my view, the right way.

I would certainly encourage all young men before they finish their career to spend time attending these courses, but whether they should be enforced in such a hard way is open to debate.

Having managed in all four divisions, I found that in division four it was 90 per cent about coaching and 10 per cent man-management.

That was reversed with the top people and I suspect the same still applies. I'm sure Graeme will not need to put on too many coaching sessions with the high-calibre of player in Newcastle's dressing-room, yet I suspect his man-management will need to be in evidence. Similarly, with Kevin at Manchester City, does Mr Anelka need coaching or managing? We all know the answer.

I'm afraid that all the licences in the world will not persuade this moody type to perform consistently.