Life is hectic. Upon my return to Dublin, I had anticipated a period of contemplative serenity after three exciting, madcap years in Cork.
My thoughts of settling quietly back into the family home, renewing old acquaintances and ruminating amid the amiable ambience of the old hometown were sadly misplaced and soon dissipated in a flurry of activity.
I have spent a lot of time exploring some new professional possibilities and catching up with the grandson in London (a good Corkman by the way) and his Mum and Dad.
I have been astonished at just how soon a first grandchild rather abruptly becomes not just the chief in his own family but also in the extended family. Absolutely everything revolves around him and like all children he very quickly adapts to this environment and uses it to his advantage.
I have learned during the past months that babies are weak only in physique. They need feeding and changing, but they are in complete control of everything else.
In short their mental and psychological faculties are soon in splendid operation as they adapt to and manipulate the environment around them. They quickly learn how to dictate the terms and conditions that suit them best and almost surreptitiously take control.
What has all this got to do with sport? I ask myself, and I am sure you are doing the same. Well, the truth is that I have learned so much in the recent months that I began to assimilate my new-found knowledge into sporting terms.
It drives my wife crazy when I, as I always do, crystalise any new information I receive with my experiences in football. I suppose it's understandable in a way, but even watching films or reading books and especially anything to do with human relationships I personalise them into my psyche based around similar experiences I have had in my job.
Like many men I suppose, I have to have a point of reference before I can fully grasp any new developements that life creates. Few men possess the instinct to immediately draw natural affinity with personal events in the lives of others.
Even in rationalising this aspect of myself I do so from a base of experiences I have had as a football manager.
I have always based all aspects of my time in management on very personal relationships. I coached and managed my teams through the individual rather than the other away round. This meant that sometimes I was not seen as a strict disciplinarian. I was rarely, very rarely, prepared to use fear to control people.
Instead I accepted the challenge to operate from a platform of openness and accessibility. This was the way not as a matter of high-minded principle but simply because I always felt that the people who had impressed, motivated and inspired me most during my career, and my life for that matter, were those who possessed the confidence to think little of their own importance and concentrated more on the relationships around them.
I have long accepted that the fulcrum of our existence is the relationship we have with every single person we meet.
So when a baby arrives, small in stature but enormous in influence, the world around changes absolutely. However, too often this influence diminishes as time progresses. The desires and demands to conform to the world around are eminently capable of diluting the individual talents of the once so important young person.
Sometimes, a fortunate individual manages to avoid the attendant pressures because those around are enlightened enough to create an environment of positivity that allows a more natural and progressive period of personal development.
The old Jesuit statement that requested 'The boy to the age of 7' and the promise that they would 'give you the man' denotes the ever so important early stages of development. But the truth is that personal development never stops.
In professional football, as in parenthood, it is very easy to use the authority of your position to control situations. The terms 'Boss' and 'Gaffer' used since time immemorial in professional football are euphemisms that underline the complete acceptance of the authority of the man in charge.
But the best do not use their badge of authority like a bully. That 
thoughtful English midfield playmaker from Stratford upon Avon FC William Shakespeare, famously offered these wise words to all club managers: 'It is wonderful to have the strength of giant, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.'
The real talented person in charge in any organisation and in any business understands the talent and the temperament of his charges and offers not only valuable assistance and experience, but builds a base of trust that energises the talents and inspires the spirit of those he leads.
The best form a family-type bond that removes all elements of fear and induces respect for the individual and all those around him.
I believe completely that the vast majority of us want to be welcomed into a group. Whether this is a family, a team or even a gang, the innate desire is there to do whatever is required to gain acceptance.
However, the retention of one's individuality, while absorbing into the group, is the key to realising true potential.
Noel Purcell once sang that 'Dublin can be heaven, with coffee at eleven, and a stroll in Stephen's Green'. Hopefully one day soon I will be able to renew my city rambles.
