SINGAPORE: Former Liverpool and England star Steve McMahon has been through the grinder as a football manager, and knows only too well the pitfalls of one of the toughest jobs in the game.

Football management in England can be a fickle business, with the axe hanging over many people's heads.

Working in lower divisions, as he did with Swindon and Blackpool, brings its own problems, but he is still chomping at the bit and believes he could easily do the Newcastle job following the sacking of Graeme Souness.

"Oh yeah, I've got no doubt about it and I don't say that lightly," he told AFP in Singapore, where he is working as a pundit for sports broadcaster ESPN.

"Because when you are at lower clubs, you have to do everything. You have to coach, manage, you have to do the books, pick the hotel you're going to stay in, you have to be a psychiatrist, a fitness guru," he said.

"These big, big clubs have them for you - they have their dieticians, their fitness coaches, their psychologists, their secretaries.

"All you have to do is get on and play the game and pick your team. Yes, you've got to handle the pressure but that is the same at every level."

One of the toughest midfielders of his generation, McMahon played for Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City, but his glory days were at Liverpool, where he won three league titles and all of his 17 England caps.

He was hired by Swindon as a player/coach when he was 33, a role he now describes as the most difficult in the game.

He advises Alan Shearer, touted in a similar role at Newcastle, and Teddy Sherringham at West Ham to think long and hard before accepting such a position.

"I think it's the most difficult job in the world game, anywhere, to do both," he said.

"I wouldn't recommend it. I had a great experience, and wouldn't have changed the position I found myself in but it's hard to do both.

"You're a player, a manager, a coach, it's so time-consuming. You're going to watch games, then playing, then training. It's just full-on."

McMahon stuck at it for four-and-a-half years, winning Swindon promotion, before quitting after several backroom staff were axed in a cost-cutting measure.

"Having to tell good people, friends of mine that they were no longer in their job - that's the difficult side that people don't see of management," he said.

He moved to Blackpool and also had a stint at Perth Glory in Australia last year before ending up in the pundit's chair.

He describes management at smaller clubs as "a rat race", and says that at the end of the day the supporters always decide whether you stay or go.

"There's one sure thing in football is that you're going to get the sack. There's no two ways about it," he said.

"It doesn't matter how well you have done - as soon as hard times fall upon anyone, the supporters basically dictate what happens with managers.

"It's a rat race, especially the lower divisions. You're balancing books and there are only two managers a year who can be successful (and get promoted)."

He rates Jose Mourinho at Chelsea as the best in the business.

"He talks fantastically well, he keeps the pressure off his players but also puts it on when he wants to," he said.

"He wants to see what they are made of. He's wonderful, he has so much confidence and self-belief and insists his players have the same mentality."

But he also likes Stuart Pearce at Manchester City and believes he is capable of doing the England job despite his lack of experience.

"I mean, you have people around you. He will have a team with him," he said.

"I went to one England session a couple of years ago. I never once saw Sven (Goran Eriksson) get involved in 90 minutes.

"He had a warm up guy, then Sammy Lee took some training, then Steve McClaren stepped in and did some phaser play, and you finished off with a warm down guy.

"The physios were on stand by, the doctors were there. It was amazing.

"As an England manager, you just need to be very shrewd and know the game."

Source: China Daily