It is the same at a lot of clubs. Indeed, the whole concept of the body-fat testing that is organised at clubs is something that has become more prevalent as I have grown older. Most clubs will carry out the test on a monthly basis and pin up the results on the dressing-room wall, as a kind of a public humiliation!

I personally feel that it has been a great help to me in how I look after my own body. It was after one such body-fat testing session (which had not been administered at my previous club) shortly after I moved to Peterborough that I was shamed into becoming somewhat of a fitness fanatic. I won't say exactly what my body-fat percentage was but suffice to say it was enough to warrant a lifestyle change!.

Personally, my fitness programme for next season is already well under way.

There is no greater motivation for getting up and going on those runs than the need to find a new club and hit the ground running when you eventually get one. Coupled with this is the fact that I have hit my thirties and am intent on proving to the younger players that I am fitter than them. Maybe it could be argued that I am going a bit over the top in that respect, but if it helps me get a club then it will be well worth it.

From a purely selfish point of view, going on these runs also gives me an excuse to get out of the house for a bit. I usually try and coincide the times of my runs with the kids getting ready for school - always a stressful time in our house and good to avoid!.

The main reason clubs now expect their players to come back with an extremely high level of fitness is that it gives them more scope to devote their pre-season training time to honing a team system for the season ahead and working on the technical side of things. This is illustrated by the fact that a lot of clubs now go straight into a degree of ballwork on the first day of pre-season training, or if not on the first day then certainly in the first week. In days gone by the unwritten rule was that you would not even set eyes on a football until the second or third week of your pre-season work..

There is also a greater emphasis on sports science now. For most clubs, the pre-season schedule is now overseen by specialist fitness coaches. When I first started, such figures were few and far between in the industry. Whereas heart-rate monitors are used now to chart every individual's performance levels in running sessions, the main yardstick before was which players were the first to throw up!

Regardless of how many pre-season schedules you have endured one thing never changes - the horrible nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach before the first run. I am sure 99% of players will relate to this. I have not come up with one definitive reason why this is but I think it is a combination of not knowing how fit you are in relation to the other players and also the thought of what awaits you in the coming weeks of pre-season.

My hardest ever pre-season came during my time at Coventry - under my old man - when we went on a tour to St Andrews in Scotland. When we initially found out the location we were quite pleased as we thought a couple of games of golf might be on the agenda. Needless to say we were hopelessly mistaken. Although this took place nearly 10 years ago I can still vividly remember the aching in my thighs as I tried to scramble up yet another sand dune only to see Roland Nillson, who was around 30, storm off into the distance putting us young pups to shame!

Each day, we were split into teams and the team with the worst combined score for the running had to do a forfeit. One forfeit was a run at 7.00 in the morning and then take a dip in the North Sea! When I say dip, the physiotherapist, Stuart Collie was used as a marker, approximately 50 metres out to sea and every member of the losing team had to go round him and back to shore.

Needless to say Mr Collie was not too impressed with the stragglers at the back! Fair play to you Stu!

Some of my previous blogs have encouraged debate on youth football and its positives and negatives. One comment from a reader of the blog has always stuck in my mind. It was along the lines of: "We can all talk about it but nothing will ever get done".

The situation I have found myself in following my release from Notts County and the difficulty in trying to secure a new club has given me the motivation to do something about that by trying to set up my own soccer school.

The idea behind it will be simple - to provide a platform for kids to fall in love with the game and keep them loving it. The disappointment some of these kids have to face at an early age through experiences such as being released from academies at the age of nine and playing under intense pressure from parents is more than enough to make kids become disillusioned with the sport.

My priority, though, is to find a new club and play for as long as I can.

Finally I would like to send my condolences to the family of Dumbarton captain Gordon Lennon who died at the weekend.

During the free time available to me since the end of the season, I have been reading up (yes, players do read!) on the various initiatives that the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) are involved in.

One scheme which caught my eye is called the Progression strategy.

Run by the PFA and LFE (League Football Education), it is designed to deal with the "fall out" from professional football among young players - in other words, the 40% of apprentices who do not earn a professional contract.

In order to help these young players, a series of "assessment trials" were organised.

The trials took place on 12, 13 and 14 May at different locations around the country.

The aim is to re-route as many of these players as possible into either professional or semi-professional football in the UK and across Europe. There are also a number of universities from both the UK and the USA looking to recruit these players on sports scholarships.

All of this makes me appreciate that I am one of the lucky ones.

Regardless of what my future holds in the world of football, I can at least look back on a career which has spanned over a decade and provided me with some great memories.

In contrast, these young lads are staring down the barrel of their careers being over before they have really begun.

It is heartening to know that there is help for them at hand in the form of the PFA and LFE.

My advice to any of the young players who have just been released would be to make the most of the support these organisations provide.

In all honesty, I was fairly slow to take advantage of the support the PFA provides for its members in my younger days. I put this down to the ignorance of youth!

As a young footballer at a Premiership club, I somewhat stupidly took the view that none of the meetings that the PFA arranged for us applied to me.

As I have got older and gradually slipped down the football ladder, I have realised how fortunate we are to have the PFA to back us up. Now I enlist their help at every opportunity.

For the most part, the only time we hear about the PFA in the media is when it is called upon to intervene in cases such as players not getting paid or are in trouble in other ways. The services they provide for their members are much wider than that.

For example, the PFA helps players with mortgage and general finance advice, injury insurance, car insurance, house insurance, advice on contract negotiations and will even help you with your will. At one time or another, I have taken advantage of all these services.

No less important is the PFA's input with regards to educational courses.

As a rule, the PFA either funds half of your course or helps to run courses that are heavily subsidised for you. My sports journalism course is one example.

A lot of my current or former team-mates have enrolled on courses, some of which are not what many would class as synonymous with professional footballers.

A good friend of mine, Peter Gain (Dagenham and Redbridge) was training to be a gas engineer, while another former team-mate Mark Tinkler (Hartlepool United) enrolled on a massage course.

There was also Josh Low (my former Peterborough United team-mate) who was training to be a solicitor, and another lad training to be a forensic scientist. It looks like the days of ex-players buying pubs are well and truly gone!

The simple fact is that the vast majority of players who have spent a large part of their careers in the lower leagues need to find a trade once their professional football career has ended. As I have said, the quicker they can start preparing themselves for this, the better.

Still on the subject of courses, this week has marked the start of my Uefa B (part 2) coaching qualification.

The whole concept of the coaching badges and what badge is needed to coach at various levels can be quite complex and has led to a fair degree of controversy.

Take the cases of Gareth Southgate and Avram Grant, when they took the reins at Middlesbrough and Chelsea without having the required Uefa Pro licence.

It came as quite a surprise to me when I discovered that there are no such requirements outside the Premier League. You do not need any coaching qualifications to become a manager at a Football League club.

As far as I understand it, the Uefa B (part 2) which I am enrolled on is the third qualification out of five. If (and it is a big if) I pass this course I would then progress to the Uefa A licence and then the Uefa Pro licence.

My own course has been taking place at The Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion and is run by the PFA. Almost all of the 25 people on it are either current or ex-professional players.

The path my own career has taken is probably best summed up by the fact that at some point, I have played with the vast majority of those 25!

They include my accomplished former Coventry City team-mates Lee Carsley, Gary Breen and Paul Williams, as well as some lower league stalwarts such as Guy Branston, Richard Butcher and Kevin Pilkington.

The course itself is fairly intense (each day we start at 9.30am and finish at 4.30pm) and comprises a mixture of theory, practical sessions and other related topics such as match analysis.

During the practical sessions, we coach each other. I am used to coaching eight-year old kids, so to then coach highly respected international players and players who have had successful careers in the lower leagues is quite different, especially as I don't have the deterrent of telling their mums if they misbehave.

It is particularly strange coaching Gary Breen and Paul Williams. I was a YTS at Coventry City when they were established pros at the club. Whereas I used to pick up their dirty kit after training, I am now trying to show them the art of defending crosses!

If that makes me feel old, I dread to think how it makes them feel...

Regardless of what job you do, being told you are going to be out of work it is not a pleasant experience to go through.

However, such experiences come with the territory of being a footballer in the lower leagues and there is no point in crying over them as far as I am concerned.

It does, however, give me the opportunity to explain what goes on when clubs are in the process of deciding what players they wish to keep for the following season and which they don't and how the players deal with the situation.

The other occasion was when I was told by Steve Wignall that my short-term deal at Southend United would not be extended, having joined the club on a five-month contract when they were under the caretaker stewardship of Stewart Robson, the former Arsenal, West Ham United and Coventry City player.

Wignall was appointed manager towards the end of the season and decided not to offer me a longer deal.

Lots of people have asked me if I had anticipated County's decision.

The honest answer is "yes".

I did retain some element of hope, especially when I managed to get back into the team in the last couple of weeks of the season but being the realist that I am, I have to admit that I did not play enough games during my time at County to warrant receiving a new deal.

The primary reason for my lack of games was the string of frustrating injuries I suffered.

None of them could be classed as serious - a couple of hamstring pulls and a slight medial knee ligament injury - but they were enough to upset any momentum that I had created for myself.

The absence of a reserve team at Notts County - a common cost-cutting measure at a lot of clubs - meant that it was hard for any player recovering from injury to regain match fitness, a fact that has been acknowledged by the Notts County management team and something they are looking to address for next season.

Players are generally not the biggest fans of reserve team football, myself included in my younger days.

But as the years have gone by, I have looked at these games in a different manner, not as a reflection of my being perceived as unsuitable for the first team but as an ideal way to maintain fitness.

I have learned that keeping an optimum level of fitness throughout the squad is vital and if I ever become a manager, I will put a big emphasis on this, even though I don't think it will make me very popular with my players!

I am sure any player who is approaching the end of his contract will testify that not knowing what is going on in the manager's head with regards to how he rates him is the most frustrating element.

Professional footballers tend to be insecure at the best of times and waiting for signs that they might be offered new deals - or otherwise - inevitably causes them to become particularly jumpy .

Every aspect of the manager's day-to-day dealings with you is analysed and it is amazing what you read into them at times.

For example, if the manager has not spoken to you one morning, you immediately think that it could be a sign that you are on your way to the exit door.

These insecurities are also apparent in the conversations players who will be out of contract conduct among themselves.

The most common points in the dialogue are "when do you think the manager will tell us" or players asking each other if they have any other irons in the fire regarding other clubs who are interested in signing them.

That latter question can often lead to a degree of exaggeration - quite often this can stem from agents filling their clients' heads with nonsense!

When the time comes and you are summoned to the manager's office, you know in an instant what the decision is.

In fact, when Ian McParland said to me: "Strach, can I have a word?" I knew by the tone of the request that the outcome of the meeting was not going to be a positive one for me.

There is no bitterness or resentment of any kind on my behalf.

In all honesty, I felt sorry for Ian because I have it on pretty good authority that telling a player he is released is the hardest part of the job for a manager, especially if you like the player as a person.

I know I would not like doing it if I were a manager.

As the meeting went on, Ian attempted to justify his decision - a decent thing to do and one which I very much appreciated.

However the truth is that after he told me: "I am afraid I cannot offer you anything for next season," I was not really listening to what else he said.

This was not because I was being rude, it was purely a case of trying to comprehend what I had just heard and thinking where I could go from there.

After I went home from training on the Thursday, I learned that the majority of the other players out of contract had also been let go.

At that point I phoned some of them and we shared our experiences - a kind of a group therapy if you like!

The following day at training was a bit awkward but there is nothing like the sense of humour from the players to get you through days like this.

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the week for me was that I was selected in the starting eleven for our final match of the season at Wycombe Wanderers.

I only found out I was in the team when we entered the dressing room at 1.30pm and have to admit it came as a bit of a shock - I have never previously heard of anyone who has played in a last match of the season under these circumstances.

It was then a case of getting my professional head on and going about things in the right manner.

As it happened, I really enjoyed the game, not least because we pulled off a surprise 2-1 win.

We passed the ball about really well and caused Wycombe a lot of problems with our formation, especially in the first half.

Ian McParland did take me off after an hour but fair play to him, this was because he did not want me to pick up an injury which might have limited my chances of finding another club - or so he said!

A win at Wycombe was definitely a better way to end my Notts County career than the home defeat against Dagenham and Redbridge the previous week.

The traditional lap of honour at County's last home game of the season was more a lap of "dishonour"!

One of the other County players who has been released by the club is Jamie Forrester, and after the Dagenham match, I remember saying to him: "If this was to be our last taste of league football, it will not give us the happiest of memories " .

So what lies in store for me now?

My first close-season priority will be to dodge all the jobs that my wife has lined up for me and I think I will have some pretty good excuses.

Much of my time will need to be spent looking for a new club.

In addition, I will be working towards my Uefa B coaching badge and finishing the journalism degree course I have undertaken.

Where all this will lead to I don't know but at this stage of my football career, it is reassuring to know that I have other potential strings to my bow.

Perhaps the best advice I could give to any young professional footballer, regardless of his ability, would be for him to enrol in as many outside courses as he can.

The more qualifications you can get, the better - and you never know when you might need them.

Although the thought of all the free time a professional footballer has at his disposal is appealing, young players should definitely stick at the education side of things, as opposed to waiting until their careers have ended, by which time it is often too late.

I recall thinking that the next manager would be someone with a proven track record of saving clubs from relegation. Instead, Bournemouth plumped for someone with no experience of managing a club at all - their former player Eddie Howe.

Quite apart from never having been a manager before, Howe is the youngest manager in the Football League, at 31.

If Bournemouth escape relegation, a feat which looks likely following recent results, it will have proved to be one of the most inspired managerial appointments in recent times in my view. Many would argue that he has already done more than a lot of people might have expected and in view of the argument that there is a lack of young British managerial talent in our game, I do feel that the promise he has shown deserves to be highlighted.

In Notts County's recent match at Bournemouth, which we won 1-0, I was interested to see how a guy just one year older than myself dealt with the stresses of being a manager. What surprised me was just how good his temperament was. He was very calm on the touchline and seemed quite adept at getting his point across to his players. Most importantly, he struck me as a manager who knows how to get the best out of them, the crucial aspect of the job.

Perhaps his most notable move at Bournemouth was to re-sign centre forward Steve Fletcher, a 36-year-old who was released by the club two years ago, after some 600 appearances for them over a period of 15 years, and was playing for non-leaguers Crawley Town when Howe decided to bring him back into the Cherries fold in January.

Big Fletch is very much a cult figure at Bournemouth and his return has clearly had a galvanising effect. At 6ft 2ins tall and whose muscular build is accentuated by his habit of rolling up the sleeves of his jersey as high as they will go, he cuts the most imposing of figures. From a football perspective, his style can best be described as "effective". He is your stereotypical lower-league target man, and very good at it, too, with enough in his locker in terms of his aerial ability, hold up play and game intelligence to make the job of marking him a defender's nightmare.

It is not uncommon for teams to enlist veteran players to help get them out of the mire. Over the years, I am sure there has been many examples that you could share. It is not just the vast playing experience of such figures that can be so important, but also the type of characters they are in the dressing room.

I remember the influence that Michael Johnson had on Notts County when he joined us back in February 2008, according to him he kept us up single handed. To this day he still complains that his back aches from carrying us all to safety that season!

It was a massive coup to be able to sign him. It owed much to the fact that he was a Notts County fan and his first professional club before his moves to Birmingham City and Derby County.

I always thought "Jonno" was a good player, but sometimes you only appreciate just how good a player actually is when you play with him as a team-mate. The way he attacks the ball in the air and his positional sense are a shining example to any aspiring central defender. Needless to say he is going to be missed when he hangs up his boots at the end of the season. Good luck for the future, "Jonno".

Apart from Fletcher, two other cases of veterans attempting to help rescue teams flying SOS signals this season are 35-year-old central defender Gary Breen and 40-year-old striker Paul Furlong at Barnet.

Gary in particular has always been a great character and a leader, which was just what Barnet and their young squad needed when their season was in danger of going into freefall. I know Gary from our time together at Coventry City. He is a very cultured defender and a great motivator. I did wonder how his elegant style would stand up in League Two, but in his own languid fashion he has adapted very well.

Relegation is obviously a terrible experience to go through for players and supporters alike. I have suffered this fate on two occasions, with Coventry City and Hartlepool United. Whilst the implications in both instances were not good for the clubs, on reflection I would say that they were far worse for Coventry City - or any club being relegated from the Premier League for that matter - especially if they cannot achieve promotion again within a couple of seasons and the parachute payments stop.

There is no need for me to highlight the financial implications for clubs dropping out of the Premier League; for a number of clubs, it has proved more than just a financial blow. It has meant financial meltdown. I would suggest that relegation is generally easier to handle, and recover from, for clubs who drop out of the Championship, League One and League Two.

As far as the latter is concerned, the followers of Luton Town, already relegated from League Two this season, and other clubs to have suffered that fate in recent years, should take heart from the stunning turn around in fortunes of Doncaster Rovers.

Having lost their league status in 1998, they bounced back in 2003 and have not looked back since. Promotions to League One and the Championship followed, accompanied by a new stadium and a brand of football that has earned them many admirers.

Exeter City are another example of a club regrouping following relegation into the Conference and coming back stronger. I played for Southend in the game that saw Exeter relegated in 2003. They returned to league football for this current season, and the momentum created by that promotion has led to them establishing themselves as one of the main contenders for a place in League One next season.

So, for followers of Luton town and the other team to exit the Football League this season, the message is to take heart from some of the precedents that have been set.

The most notable of these are those from the polls conducted by the Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' Association, which will be announced on the 26 April and 28 May respectively.

The players who make the biggest impression on me are often the ones who are the most understated and who, in terms of their work on and off the ball, can easily be taken for granted by supporters. These are the men who can be relied upon to give a solid display every week, and do a lot of the leg work that is required for the more apparently exciting players to flourish. While these players may not get the public acclaim afforded to some, they certainly get it from their own team mates, not to mention their opponents.

I have lost track of the number of end of season dinners I have attended where the Players' Player of the Year award goes to a player in this mould. Past examples include Richard Shaw at Coventry City, Michael Nelson at Hartlepool United and Adam Tann at Notts County. None of them were headline grabbers but all were respected for the contributions they made to the team.

Which player would win your "unsung hero award" in the Premier League this season?

I'll confine my nominations to League Two and they are (drum roll, please): Barry Roche (Morecambe), Stephen Dawson (Bury) and Jack Lester (Chesterfield).

You could argue that my selection of goalkeeper Barry Roche is somewhat biased, given that he is on my journalism course. If anything, this made it harder for me to choose him because I have had to endure him telling me how good he has been on a weekly basis for the whole season!

But, as much as it pains me to say it, he has been nothing short of magnificent this season. This is his first season at Morecambe, following his surprise departure from Chesterfield, and according to their manager, Sammy McIlroy, he has been their most influential player.

Unfortunately for Barry, one of his claims to fame is a howler he made while playing for Nottingham Forest at the start of his career. He was trying to clear a routine back pass when the ball hit a plastic cup and bobbled into the net. The big man won't thank me for bringing that up - in fact he will probably beat me up! - but if he keeps up the form that he has shown this season, that embarrassing moment will surely be totally forgotten.

My next choice, Bury's Stephen Dawson, is once again not one of the better known players in League Two but if you were to ask any other midfielder in the league who has played against him, they would certainly be aware of Stephen's attributes as a player.

Having joined the club in the summer from Mansfield following their relegation into the Blue Square Premier he has slotted into the Bury midfield very well, forming a good understanding in that department with Brian Barry Murphy. Stephen is a player I have always liked and without being disrespectful to Bury, I thought a team from a higher division might have been keen to secure his signature when it became clear he would be leaving Mansfield.

For those who have not seen him play, he is an aggressive midfielder with a high level of fitness which enables him to be effective all over the pitch. Having played against him this season, I can vouch for the fact that he is the type of player who never lets you have time on the ball while at the same time repeatedly tests your own stamina levels with forward runs. In short he is exactly the kind of team mate that you want.

The final name on my shortlist is veteran Chesterfield striker Jack Lester who despite his advancing years is still far too good to be playing in League Two.

I have played against Jack many times over the years and having witnessed him play this season it is clear he is still as sharp as ever. Having never been blessed with what could be described as lightning pace, he has compensated for this with his football intelligence. His link-up play is second to none and he is a midfielder's dream in that you know that when the ball goes up to him, he is not going to surrender possession easily. In fact you can already be planning your next pass, safe in the knowledge that he will find you with the ball. That is quite a rarity in the lower leagues.

I remember speaking to our central defenders following our 1-0 defeat at home to Chesterfield back in January. They told me that it was particularly difficult to play against Jack because of the positions that he took up. Unlike a lot of strikers who specialise in either running the channels or holding the ball up, Jack is good at both. In these previous instances the defenders can set their stall for either type of player, but a player who can do both makes life a lot harder for them.

Needless to say, after the frustrations I have had this season, I am not expecting a nomination for a Player of the Year award - at least not one of the orthodox kind.

The only category in which I think I have excelled has been that of impressive substitute warm-ups!

This is an annual occurrence for me, as it is for most players, which I put down to both the match and training pitches beginning to firm up again. Of course, the other explanation could be that my body is just a wreck.
 
When I look at former players and see the ailments that they are now suffering from following a career in football - the number of those with dodgy knees or hips - I always think: 'Now, there's something for me to look forward to'.
 
For those players who have played the majority of games this season, it is not so much the fact there are two games in three days, which is the case for most clubs over Easter that is the problem, but the cumulative effect of the 30-odd games before that.
 
In the current lower league climate, clubs are operating with smaller squads, meaning that the squad rotation - which is prevalent at higher levels of the game - cannot be utilised to the same extent. Mind you, as someone who is currently confined to the bench, I'd welcome a bit of rotation!
 
I'd be interested to hear what you think about the quality on display during the games over Easter. Is there a noticeable difference in the pace and also the quality of the game in the second of the two matches?
 
Of course, for teams striving to achieve promotion, or avoid relegation, it could be argued that this is a time of the year when performances are not generally deemed to be as important as results.

I am not referring to the mentalities of just the players and managers - I should imagine that the vast majority of the fans of the teams at the top and bottom will also be more than happy for their sides to pick up the points they need, without being enamoured by the way this is achieved.
 
We are also at the stage of the season when the nerves begin to jangle.
 

Part of the reason that we have seen league leaders, Manchester United, Wolves and Leicester City suffer a loss of form in recent weeks could be attributed in some part to nervousness on behalf of the players.
 
During the course of my own career I have experienced the nerves associated with going for promotion and also trying to stave off relegation. I know which of the two I prefer!
 
My spell at Hartlepool United included two consecutive seasons where, at this stage of the season we were trying to achieve a play-off position.

I thoroughly enjoyed the supposed pressure that was associated with trying to achieve this goal. It was made slightly easier for us at a relatively small club (no offence intended) such as Hartlepool where the expectation levels were not as great as they are at some clubs.
 
In comparison, the mood at relegation-threatened teams around the Easter period is one of sheer panic. Time is running out; as a rule you are not in the best of form and you don't really know where your next three points are coming from.
 
Of the present main promotion contenders in League Two, the ones who have made the biggest impression on me are Exeter, Brentford and Bury. All three deserve immense credit, in that their respective managers have managed to gel teams that are organised, hard to beat and above all consistent.

We at Notts County have the ability to play very well on our day - for example, we have picked up four out of six points in our matches against Exeter - but have struggled to put together the sustained run of good results necessary to get us in the promotion mix.
 

At the start of the season, one of my strongest tips for automatic promotion were Bradford City. While promotion via the play-offs is still a viable option for the Bantams, I am sure the thousands of City fans who attend their home matches on a regular basis - making them easily the best supported side in the division - will be a bit disappointed with recent results.
 
I am certain City have missed their injured winger Omar Daley - one of the best players I have come across at this level and certainly one of the quickest. However, they still have a very good squad of players to choose from, and as long as City sort out the defensive lapses they have been prone to in recent weeks, I still believe they have a good chance of going up.
 
One of the problems for Bradford City is that the atmosphere that their incredible fans create for home and away games can often inspire the opposition, and their followers. A good example was when we beat Bradford 4-1 at home back in February.
 
I have witnessed both the advantages and disadvantages of teams having a large following. When things are going well for the team there is no better feeling than being cheered on by a big crowd.

Every player wants to get on the ball and show what he can do. The flip side is when things are not going well for the team, fans become frustrated, causing some players to go into their shell.
 
I have found that this situation is often apparent at "big" clubs who have slipped down the football ladder and are now playing at a lower level.

It can understandably be very frustrating for the fans of such clubs to watch football which might be of an inferior standard to what they saw from their teams in better times.
 
Personally, I hope that things work out for Bradford City, and especially their manager Stuart McCall.  I am a big fan of his.

I'm sure many of us are familiar with the incident involving Stuart when he fell off a car, holding a can of beer after Bradford won promotion to the Premiership. If you are not, try looking it up on the internet, he didn't spill a drop!
 
He comes across as honest and hard working, just as he did as a player. He also recently stated that he would leave the club if they did not manage to secure a play-off spot, which is another reason why I hope they can be successful.

There is also my former Peterborough United team-mate Craig Morgan who has been in the Wales set-up. McCann is one player on the lower league circuit I have never played against but I know Morgan very well from my days at Peterborough. In terms of technical ability he is one of the best defenders I have played with and has been one of the most valuable players in the recent successes of Peterborough United.

Who are the lower league internationals - past and present - who have stood out to you?

Away from football, the highlight of my week has been passing my 60 words per minute shorthand exam which is one of the modules that needs to be completed for my journalism degree. Rather than take all the credit myself.- which is highly tempting - I have to say a big thanks to our teacher Sue Gamberton who has worked miracles not just with me but the other lads who have passed this test as well.

Many was the session over the past year that we sat there moaning (as footballers do!) that learning shorthand was impossible but she kept encouraging us and we got there in the end.

Anyway that's enough sucking up to the teacher for one week!.

At one time, I thought that all you needed to be a good manager were the necessary coaching badges, and the ability to pick the right side and sign good players. Job done!

While the fundamentals of this will always be true, the best managers are also able to get inside their players' heads, and have a great appreciation of how to handle them to get the best response.

Quite simply you have to know how to deal with people. I know plenty of good coaches and former players who you would think were destined to become good managers but could not make a fist of it primarily because they could not handle that aspect of the job.
 
Not counting my old man, I would point to Darren Ferguson and, obviously it goes without saying, my current manager at Notts County, Ian McParland, (remember I am trying to get back in the team) as the best man-managers I have encountered in my career.
 
A number of sports psychologists have become involved with professional football clubs and I think it is fair to say that the reaction to them among the players has been mixed.
 
This could be because some players may confuse psychologists with psychiatrists and are quite uncomfortable with the thought of people messing with their head, possibly seeing it as a sign of weakness.

In my own case, I have always tried to be very open minded about these figures - it would be very foolish not to in my view, given the thin dividing lines between success and failure in the game.
 
I have to admit, though, that I don't feel this sort of help has been very effective for me up to now. I would never try and put someone off attempting these methods. They definitely pay dividends for a lot of players - I just doubt they are for me.

This is not because I am from the old school fraternity who simply believes that the best way to toughen up a player mentally is by making him run until he throws up. I just put it down to the fact that after years of being on the football merry-go-round, I am beyond help.
 
From my own personal experiences, I would split the type of mental training I have had into two distinct categories.

There is the "close your eyes, relax , you are getting sleepy....remember you are brilliant" type of category. Someone much smarter than me told me that this technique is known as "creative visualisation" although I stand to be corrected.

Then there is the motivational team meeting scenario, where a lot of dialogue is encouraged, similar to the type of talks that are given for businesses.
 
Motivation is obviously a key element for success in any walk of life, football being no exception.

Over the years I have subjected myself and also been subjected to just about every motivational tool available in order to find that edge before competing in a match, be it in the form of a film, music or anything else you can think of, it has probably been covered.
 
One particular favourite of football coaching staffs up and down the country is to bring a copy of "Living with the Lions" (the documentary about the British Lions rugby union team on tour in South Africa) on to the team bus.

If you have not seen it, I would strongly advise you to watch it because it is brilliant. I think I am in to double figures in terms of the times I have seen it shown on team buses.

As a result, I now tend to groan when I see it being loaded into the DVD player but I still end up watching the whole thing anyway!
 
Another commonly-used motivational tool is the speech about "inches" given by Al Pacino's character in the film "Any Given Sunday". This is a particular favourite of mine; I have even got it on my iPod .
 
From time-to-time I often indulge in a bit of "Rocky" when I'm in need of a motivational boost. My own favourite is Rocky IV.

To me, those scenes of him training in the snow are fantastic. The soundtrack for the Rocky films is also a must for one's iPod as far as I am concerned.

Before an FA Cup third round tie for Hartlepool against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, I took the Rocky soundtrack CD on to the team bus.

Needless to say we were ready to fight the world when we got off, but we refrained from punching anybody and gave a good account of ourselves in a narrow 1-0 defeat in front of a 40,000 crowd.
 
If I have missed any films or songs that get you going for a match then please feel free to share them as I would gladly welcome some fresh material!
 
However regardless of what anyone suggests, I still feel that the greatest motivational line that I have encountered all too often in my career from various managers is "Strachan, You have got five minutes to start playing or you are off...!"

No doubt there are some among football's elite who would go even further than David Moyes and argue that the Football League play-off and the JPT finals should not be staged at Wembley either. But just try telling that to the fans and players of clubs outside the Premier League - especially to ones like Luton.

It says much about the attraction of a trip to Wembley that Luton, whose average League Two gate is around 5,000, have been allocated 30,000 tickets for the JPT final, while Scunthorpe's allocation is 20,000. Last season's Wembley final between MK Dons and Grimby attracted a crowd of 56,000.

I could not help thinking that Luton's players had been motivated by the prospect of playing at Wembley when noting the hunger and desire they showed in their 2-0 win at Notts County on Tuesday.

The closest I ever came to a Wembley appearance was in my debut season at Coventry when we were knocked out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United in a fifth-round replay penalty shoot-out at Bramall Lane, so I will definitely among those casting an envious eye on Luton Town and Scunthorpe on April 5!

But I am proud of appearing in big games at other great stadiums, including the Millennium Stadium, Anfield, White Hart Lane, Villa Park and Ibrox. During the early days of my career, I was slightly blasé about appearing at such arenas, primarily for the deluded reason that I thought these would be the type of places where I would be playing my football for the duration of my career.

I have been proved wrong - inevitably - but I can take a great deal of comfort in the knowledge that many players only gain entrance into such places as spectators.

In terms of atmosphere, the stadium I enjoyed playing at the most was Anfield. I appeared there on two occasions, both when I was playing for Coventry City. The first was a fleeting substitute appearance, where the closest I got to the ball was when I was nutmegged by Michael Owen. I have since been nutmegged by many a player and normally I would not own up to such experiences. But in this instance, well it was Michael Owen!

In my second appearance at Anfield, I started the game alongside Carlton Palmer in midfield. The biggest problem for me was not so much the crowd and the noise they made - which was almost deafening - but the fact that big Carlton Palmer and myself were up against Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister! It will come as no great surprise to you that we lost 4-1.

What struck me about Anfield, even as a young man, was just how instantly aware you were of the tradition surrounding the place. From the moment you walk in to the ground and past the famous "boot room", to the time of kick-off with "You'll never walk alone" echoing from the packed stands, you are left in no doubt that there is something special about this stadium.

The new stadiums that have been built in recent years have plenty of benefits, especially the modern facilities. However, while they are nice and shiny, the experience of playing at the modern-day grounds is nothing like as stimulating as that of appearing at Anfield and the long-standing homes of the other football giants as far as I am concerned .

I would like to hear your views on the new stadiums and how they compare to the likes of Anfield (or any other older stadium) for atmosphere.

One of my biggest regrets is that, because of injury, I have never played at Old Trafford - the "Theatre of Dreams" as it is aptly called - or Elland Road. It was particularly frustrating for me to miss out on playing at Elland Road, during my time at Coventry because this was the place where I watched the likes of Mel Sterland (now he could strike a free-kick!), Chris Fairclough and David Batty in the relative glory years of Leeds United.

During training on the Thursday before the match, it was looking as though I would be selected to start the game. However a groin injury during that training session (which led to a double hernia operation) put pay to that particular dream.

As I have said before, playing at the Millennium Stadium for Hartlepool against Sheffield Wednesday in the League One play-off final was a fantastic experience but it was all rather surreal. Former players and people who I respect told me to savour every minute of this experience but regardless of how hard I tried to do so, the whole day has unfortunately become just a blur.

The Millennium Stadium was a great arena to play football in. The atmosphere was incredible as were the facilities in the dressing rooms. I remember being pleasantly surprised that we all had our own individual lockers, which was a real treat considering that at lower league grounds, it is not unusual for you to have to share a peg with your team mates because some of the other pegs have fallen off which could lead to you going home wearing another players tracksuit!

Not that I am complaining, far from it. Players who drop down levels have to adapt to the different types of stadiums and facilities. It is something that has never bothered me.The quality of the pitch is more of a priority to me as opposed to the state of the players' tunnel.

Like most players, I am just grateful to be earning my living from the game, although we still have a bit of a laugh at some of the places we play at.

A tongue-in-cheek comment that is familiar in League Two when we play at a ground which is facility-challenged is: "This is not really what I dreamt about as a kid." There is one ground in particular, that has a changing room with one loo. That in itself is not a problem, except that whenever I play at the ground, the loo is always blocked. Not nice with 16 nervous footballers around!

Just imagine if there was only one loo in the dressing rooms at Wembley!

While waiting for the chance to re-establish myself in the Notts County team since my return to fitness from injury, I have again experienced life on the substitutes' bench.

Unfortunately for me, being confined to the bench has been an all too common occurrence during my career.

So much so, it is getting to the stage where I could quite easily compile my own comprehensive guide to dugouts in the Football League (and the Scottish Premier League as well, for that matter)!

I have lost track of the number of different players I have represented in these training games! One of the most amusing aspects of it is when the time comes for the first team to rehearse attacking free-kicks and all the lads in bibs are hiding, trying to avoid being in the defensive wall and having balls smashed at them! At times like this, I have found that a well-timed stretching exercise can sometimes do the trick.

As a substitute, it is absolutely essential to prepare for a game as you would if you had been selected in the starting line-up. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your chances of featuring in a game are remote, and ease off on your preparation as a result.

I made this mistake on a couple of occasions in the early stages of my career and lived to regret it because when I was brought on, my total lack of application in the build up inevitably showed in my performance.

Not a good thing when you consider that the key objective for any substitute is to make a positive impact on the game and give the manager something to think about when it comes to his next team selection.

I believe that the real test of a professional footballer is when things are not going well. When you are in the team and playing well you are swept along by the momentum created by it. Training is a joy: you feel fit and cannot wait for the next match. However, it is a different story when you are not in the team.

Some players cannot handle the disappointment and certainly cannot hide it. I am not having a go at these players - in the past I have been one of them and understand the reasons why.

Playing first-team football is the objective of every footballer regardless of what level he is at, but what I have learned is that moping about does not help the situation. My own therapy when not playing is to lose myself in hard work during training and do a little bit extra. That way, you at least have a clear conscience knowing that you are doing all you can to get back in the side.

I have never forgotten the attitude of a former team-mate - like me, a regular on the bench - during an FA Cup tie. Such was his frustration, he actually wanted the other team to win!

That in itself was bad enough but when the opposition had a chance that flashed wide of the post, he stood up ready to cheer in anticipation of the ball hitting the back of the net! Fortunately for him it was only me that noticed. All I could do was shake my head and hope that I would not end up so consumed by bitterness.

The actual experience of sitting on the bench for a full 90 minutes is an interesting one from a behavioural point of view. The amount of nervous energy on display is incredible, particularly from the coaches. Seeing what anguish these guys go through during a match would make any player with hopes of one day becoming a manager ask himself: "Do I really want to put myself through that?"

You also hear the - how shall I put it - "constructive criticism" that is aimed at the players. Managers and coaches can scream all manner of abusive remarks to their players in the heat of battle. It is part and parcel of the game. But when you are listening to it on the bench, the thought does occur that you will be getting the same level of stick when you go on the pitch!

Players on the bench sometimes have to find ways of keeping themselves amused because, as much as you try to stay focused on the game, this can be exceptionally difficult without the physical involvement. At one of my former clubs we passed a bit of time on the bench by working out the odds each substitute had of being brought on. I was invariably the long odds outsider, which usually proved to be justified!

For all the frustrations that being on the bench has brought me, there has been some very funny instances. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen a player bang his head on the dugout ceiling. This usually happens when the manager tells the player he is going on and blind panic ensues with the player frantically trying to get his warm-up gear off and his shirt on before the manager changes his mind!

Being on the receiving end of the manager changing his mind about bringing you on as a substitute when you are stripped and ready to go on is a miserable experience. At the time it is very humiliating, especially when the other subs (and the kit man for that matter) are sniggering away at you and pretending to wipe the metaphorical "custard pie" off your face. However, as with most things in professional football, you laugh about it on the Monday morning.

Over the years, there have been certain players who have been ideally suited to being a substitute, players who for some reason make more of an impact when joining a game at a later stage as opposed to when they start it. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United) and David Fairclough (Liverpool) are the ones that immediately spring to mind. My own personal favourite "super-sub" when I was growing up watching Leeds United was Imre Varadi.

I would be interested to hear who has been the substitute who regularly made the biggest impact at your club.

I have always found that players with searing pace or an eye for goal can be the most effective substitutes, especially when the players on the pitch begin to tire and space opens up later in the game.

I have often come on in the last few minutes of games. When the final whistle goes you do feel like a bit of a fraud joining in the celebrations if you have won. The rest of the lads have been slogging their guts off and you stroll on for a couple of minutes and share in the glory.

There is always that sense of being slightly on the periphery of things. It is important to hide such feelings, for the sake of not undermining the dressing-room spirit which is vital at any club, although it is easier said than done when the lad in your position scores a hat-trick and you have to say "well done" through gritted teeth! I am pretty sure that this boils down to basic human nature.

At Peterborough we had the Recaro racing-type seats in the dug out, which are the type of individual seats that are used by top Premier League and European teams. In my expert opinion they were the comfiest of my career.

For a brief moment you felt good knowing that Premier League players sit on the same type of seats. Then the sobering reality of your predicament sets in and you realise that ultimately you are a substitute for a League Two club.

To put this into some sort of context, we were told during a recent Notts County training session that you should aim to get 1,000 touches of the ball every day in order for us to improve technically.

I remember that when I first started playing at the age of eight - I was lucky if I got a touch (quite similar to now really!). The back four were so bored that the highlight of the game was the mud fight that took place between them when the ball was up the other end of the pitch.

Kids need to be involved in the play a lot more for them to get the maximum enjoyment and benefits from it.

When you actually consider the events that occur in an 11-a-side kids match on a full- size pitch, it becomes glaringly obvious that there is something wrong with the system.

For example, a goalkeeper, dwarfed by the full-size goal, has little or no chance of doing anything about a high shot. No less daunting for him are his efforts to clear the penalty box with his goal-kicks.

This is not easy for an 11-year-old, especially when you consider the vulture like opposition forward players hovering on the edge of box waiting for a mistake.

If it sounds like I am speaking from experience, I am. I started out as a goalkeeper and before anyone else suggests it, I know, maybe I should have stuck at it!

In games at this level, it is apparent that the biggest, strongest players - the ones who can kick the ball the furthest - are by and large the most effective ones. This is something that will always be an issue in junior football but the more emphasis we can place on skill and technique, the better chance we will have of producing better players.

Unfortunately, I also feel that the attitude of some of the parents is an obstacle to the progress of the players. Rather than wanting to hold the kids back from playing full-size games at such a tender age, they actively encourage it.

A friend of mine, who has a son playing at under-10 level, recently related a conversation with the parent of another boy in the team, who suggested that the lads should at least start playing friendly matches on a full-size pitch to get ready for under- 11 level. "That will sort the men out from the boys!" he said.

This is a perfect illustration of the kind of attitude that needs to be changed in order to bring about a sustained improvement in the quality of our kids' local leagues.

The part of the radio debate that I heard painted a fairly damning verdict on all junior football but I would like to point out that it is not all bad. In fact, from my experience, it is very good until that under-11 threshold.

For example, my little boy's under-eight`s team play seven-a-side games on small pitches, with small goals and rolling subs. It works really well. All the boys get their quota of touches and the games flow from end-to-end, with the emphasis on short passes and technique. Most importantly the boys enjoy it.

The good news also continues with the work being done at the various centres of excellence and academies up and down the country that are run by professional clubs.

The centre of excellence coach at Notts County , Mick Leonard, told me that although our boys start playing 11-a-side games at under-11, they are staged on smaller pitches.

This point was emphasised when I visited the Nottingham Forest Academy during the week - they had all sorts of pitch sizes, specifically catering for various age groups .

Obviously, cost can be a major issue when it comes to implementing such ideas outside professional football, but with the vast sums of money sloshing around in the Premier League and the FA, you would like to think that local football leagues would receive financial backing to fund new initiatives .

Youth football, and how it can be improved, is a complex subject. One of my own hobby-horses concerns the belief that the jump from playing seven-a-side on small pitches to 11-a-side on a full pitch is just too great for most lads. My own idea would be to have nine-a-side games up until the age of 14 on half a full-size pitch.

I would also continue with the idea of rolling subs as it keeps everybody involved, and gives the coach the option to try players in different positions and educate the lads on what the different roles entail.

You never know, the big lad at the back, who can kick it the furthest, might just have an eye for goal as a striker.

As always, I would welcome your views and any possible suggestions you may have.