“Good God, no,” says Mark Hughes when asked if he plans to follow in the footsteps of his former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and manage into his 70s.
It is seven years since Hughes, 62, managed in the Premier League.
Only six others – Arsene Wenger (828), Ferguson (810), David Moyes (731), Harry Redknapp (641), Sam Allardyce (541) and Steve Bruce (476) – have taken charge of more games in the Premier League era than Hughes (466).
While five of those six have either retired or are currently out of the game, Hughes is ploughing on with his latest challenge – trying to revive the fortunes of non-league Carlisle United.
“I’ll know when the time’s right to retire – but I haven’t reached that stage,” he tells BBC Sport.
Having steered Blackburn Rovers to a sixth-placed Premier League finish, managed Manchester City in Europe, and achieved three top-half finishes in the top flight with Stoke City, Hughes’ days are now spent plotting wins over Truro City, Boston United and Tamworth in the National League.
The former Wales boss could not be happier.
“A lot of things I faced in the Premier League are in evidence at this level,” says the former striker, affectionately known as ‘Sparky’ during his playing days at Manchester United.
“Problems leading up to games, player issues… you still have them here.”
After managing Benni McCarthy at Blackburn, Carlos Tevez at Manchester City and Peter Crouch at Stoke, Hughes is using his vast managerial experience to try and get the best out of Regan Linney, Cameron Harper and Chris Conn-Clarke.
It seems to be working.
Hughes has got Carlisle on track to make a quick return to the Football League after relegation from League Two last season.
The Cumbrians began the weekend second in the National League table, level on points with leaders Rochdale, and on Sunday will attempt to the reach the FA Cup third round for the first time since 2020 when they face League One Blackpool at Bloomfield Road (17:30 GMT).
“I had a great time as a Premier League manager,” says Hughes. “But to do this and get promoted – that would be right up there.”
