THEY say that once you're bitten by the bug of football, there just isn't an antidote available to ever cure you.
But even approaching 1,800 matches in management isn't enough for popular boss Dave Anderson, who has announced his retirement from our infectious game aged just 54.
“I've been out of it for a year now,” said the Ulsterman, perhaps most notable for his three years in charge of AFC Wimbledon.
“And when after a year there's not a bit of me that wishes I was getting my squad together, or planning pre-season, you know something isn't right.
“I'd love to lie and say that I'm itching to get back in but the truth of it is that I have no real interest any longer.”
To those who know him, his admission will come as a surprise. Not only was he one of the voices behind the BBC's excellent – and brutally axed – Non-League Show, but the former Harrow, Hendon and St Albans boss can regularly be found at a game.
Watching his old Wimbledon side secure promotion to League One on Bank Holiday Monday, he joined the fans and the Dons' only other two full-time managers as Terry Brown and Terry Eames who shared memories with supporters over a pre-match pint.
“For me, that's what it's all been about – meeting great people and making friends for life,” he said. “Wimbledon have even managed to perfect the play-offs since I left!
“But I don't think people quite realise what goes into managing a Non-League football club. First of all you're paid during the season. August through to April. You're not paid in May and June – that's when the work is done.
“At any level of the game, you have to be right at it. If anyone isn't doing 12 months a year, seven days a week and 24 hours a day they are losing ground. You have to have your hunger or you get eaten up quite quickly.
Environment
“It's a stressful environment and this time of the year it's the worst as you're lucky if you get one week away. For every player you want to sign, you would have watched 20, talked to ten, got serious with five and, if you're lucky, got one of them.
“You need to meet players, as much as they want to do things over text message. You need to know the player is right and you're at it every day. You don't get a summer.”
He won't miss the phone bill or the interruptions during meal times, but the boss who started at North Greenford back in 1986 says 30 years is enough for him.
“It's true what they say, you miss the dressing room most but I have a new drug in golf and a new dressing room to enjoy,” he added. “I've substituted sports and I won't be going back – not that I've not loved every minute of it.”
