WHEN Neil Mann begins his new role coaching youngsters on the outskirts of Sydney in the coming weeks, little will they know the high esteem he was once held in 10,000 miles away. As one of the last terrace favourites of the Boothferry Park era, Mann was regarded as a beacon during dark times in Hull City's history.
"Was I popular? I'm not sure why. That's a hard one for me to answer," said Mann. "As a player I'd always have a go. I tried to be creative and play the game I felt was the right way.
"If there's one thing I can look back on it would be that relationship with the fans, it was really good. I was fortunate enough that they felt a little something about me. I appreciated what I had, I really did."
Whether at left midfield, left-back or up front, the industrious and attack-minded Mann crafted a strong bond with supporters during his time as a player. A series of injuries denied him a greater legacy, but Mann is still grateful for his lot after testing times during his teenage years. Told by his own father Arthur, then youth team boss at Grimsby, that he lacked the physical presence for the professional game, he was forced to bide his time on the non-league scene with Grantham Town before opportunity knocked at City in 1993.
Mann said: "It took me a while to appreciate it but I look back and understand that it was absolutely the right decision. I wasn't ready physically. My Dad knew how hard it was to be a professional footballer and felt the right pathway for me was to get trained up with a trade.
"I could still play football and if I was good enough I could go back into it. That's exactly what happened and I thank him for that foresight, God rest his soul, because he sent me down the right path."
At 20, the education was only just beginning.
He added: "I signed for a year, part-time initially, and I remember the first day of training. With some of the lively characters there, it was sink or swim. There was Linton (Brown), Deano (Windass), Chris Hargreaves, Gareth Stoker to name just a few. They were great memories. In football you either get in there and get on with it or you get found out pretty quickly."
After injury problems blighted his City career, Mann took early retirement with 209 appearances and 11 goals to his name. There was also a record, one he was only too happy to pass on to Ryan France in 2008.
"I look back and I think I was sub mostly," said Mann, who made 45 substitute appearances. "Someone told me once that I'd just become a Hull City record-holder – I'd taken the record for most sub appearances ever. I seriously didn't want that record so when Francey took it from me I was absolutely delighted. Maybe that says a lot about my career."
Mann does a good line in self-deprecation but beneath it all is a passion for the game that has shaped his life. A coaching career that started with City's youth ranks has now taken him and his family to Australia and the sparkle remains.
"Coaching is the next best thing. Nothing beats playing and that feeling it gives you. The emotions you deal with, whether you win or lose, are incredible.
"I played in a game for the ex-Tigers and played Brid a couple of years ago and I came home afterwards limping. I went straight to the freezer, got some peas out and wrapped it round my ankle. I opened a can of beer and my wife looked at me and asked 'What on earth are you doing?'
"But I'd missed that and it felt great. The majority of games I would come off battered and bruised and it felt like I was back playing. I could barely walk for four days after but the memories it brought back reminded me how great playing football was."
