Cobh Ramblers manager Shane Keegan is more than happy in his part-time role in Cork, and will likely never go back into a full time role with another club.
Keegan has been the Cobh boss since June last year, and has since taken them to fourth place on the League of Ireland First Division table.
This was after a period away from management following his month as Dundalk manager, which was forgettable to say the least.
Now that he is no longer truly dependant on the full time roles he had in the past, Keegan feels much happier as a manager, and suggests that he does not believe he will ever go back to managing a club in a full time capacity.
Speaking on Football Saturday, Keegan looked back on his first full time role as a manager at Wexford Youths, and the warning that current Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny gave him immediately on being given the role.
"For the first four of those five years, I was part-time, so I had a day job," Keegan said. "On winning the league in the fourth year, we'd the league wrapped up with a couple of games left, Mick Wallace gave me an offer to go full time.
"In my head, to a certain extent, this was me achieving a life's ambition. To become a full time manager, this is what I'd worked towards.
"Our next game was against Dundalk in a cup game. We went for something to eat upstairs and I was sitting down with Stephen Kenny.
"I said, 'I've actually just accepted an offer during the week to go full time as of next year'. Stephen's reaction is: 'What are you doing that for!?'
"'It's a different world when it's your food and drink'. He was 100% right!"
'I don't know if I'd ever go full time again'
Keegan admits that he is far more happy now that he back to a part time managerial role.
"I genuinely don't know would I ever want to go full time in management again," Keegan said. "It's just, when you know that your ability to bring home a paycheque for the following week is dependant on your result that Friday night, it's a whole different world.
"As a manager, your working week is never done. There is always more that can be done. There's another game that can be watched, there's another player that can be watched.
"When you're full time, I felt I had to justify my existence as a full time manager by spending 16-17 hours a day doing everything I could to help take the club forward.
"Whereas, when you're part time, you have that bit more detachment. You have a day job that you're going to have regardless of how Friday night going, you're still going to have that wage.
"And you don't feel like it has to consume every moment of your life."
Football on Off The Ball brought to you by Sky. All the football you love in one place across Sky Sports, BT Sport & Premier Sports.
