Three weeks ago, Jonjo Shelvey picked up the phone to Eddie Howe.
Aware that he was about to call it a day as a footballer and move into management with Emirati third tier club Arabian Falcons, he had a proposal for the Newcastle United manager.
“We didn’t have a game so I asked if I could come back to Newcastle and watch his training and shadow him for a day, be a sponge basically,” Shelvey told The i Paper.
“When you’re a player you miss the little things but I’d like to go in and be around him, just pick his brain, even down to the little things like looking at what he’s got on his wall.
“He came back to me and said ‘Mate, whenever you want to come back to me, just give me a shout’. That sums him up as a person.”
Shelvey shares the story to offer a bit of insight into a man he calls “the best, most detailed manager I’ve ever come across”.
He is still plugged into the situation at Newcastle, the club he “didn’t ever want to leave”, and is bemused at the level of criticism being aimed at Howe.
“I can see it from both sides because it hasn’t gone well this season but the level of expectation is there because of him,” he says. “He deserves a little bit more than what fans are giving him.”
Lack of time on the training pitch, where Shelvey says Howe does his best work, might be behind this season’s struggles. He recalls one particular weekly session where Howe would work “for 40 or 50 minutes, just on shape”.
“He works a lot on patterns of play and when it comes to a game day they’re just drilled into you and you know that if things aren’t going well you’ve got those patterns to rely on,” he says.
“He’s not just this one dimensional, high pressing manager. A lot of his teams do tire out because of how much he demands but that’s just the way he works. I’ve not got a bad word to say about him.”
Shelvey is doing the media rounds to mark his retirement.
Hanging up his boots had been on the cards for a while but seeing it “in black and white” did give him pause for thought. His wife Daisy shed a few tears when it was made official.
Now he is ready to embrace life in the dug out at a club with aspirations of moving through the divisions and eventually competing in the Asian Champions League.
“This isn’t a publicity stunt, it’s not for the cameras,” he says.
Neither is his decision to stay in the UAE at a time when the country has been dragged into the conflict in Iran.
“I’ve not felt unsafe once,” Shelvey says.
“People are still going to the beaches, the malls, the restaurants. The first day when there was a bomb we just went out and went to the mall.
“We just got told ‘Everything’s fine’ and it was. I know a lot of people have gone home but I’m just like ‘Why?’ Trust them. The UAE has made us feel so safe.
“The only thing that’s been a bit annoying is the kids are off school for three weeks…”
Last year Shelvey caused controversy when he said that he would never move back to London or Essex because of the threat of crime. Even with the situation unfolding in Dubai he remains defiant.
“I don’t care about the backlash,” he said.
“One thing you know about me is I just say how I feel. It’s the truth – people don’t like it, so be it.
“I do feel like the UK isn’t what it was when I was growing up. I felt fine in Newcastle but in terms of living in London or Essex, where I’m from, I’d never, ever go back there.
“Even if my family have a big party and ask me to fly back for it I say ‘No’. You want to see us, you come out here. I don’t want to put anything at risk.
“My wife’s sister was walking in London along the street after work and the phone got robbed. Just kids coming past on a bike. There’s too many scumbags around.
“All it would take would be for me to be in London walking around with the kids, someone to say ‘Give me your watch’ and I’m the type of person to say ‘You’re not having it’.
“I didn’t want to do it anymore and I felt like a nice change. A bit of sun, enjoy the life.”
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He adds that those sentiments do not apply to the North East, where he would happily return “if I got a job offer”.
“But for now, the next 12-18 months, it’s about winning with this team,” he says.
“I owe the people at Arabian Falcons for giving me this opportunity and I want to help them build something and win matches.
“That’s how you get noticed as a manager.”