It has been almost seven years to the day since Dave Hockaday began his managerial role at Leeds United in one of the most bizarre 70-day periods the club has ever endured.
The Whites employed Hockaday when the controversial previous owner Massimo Cellino was at the helm and, as expected, it didn’t take long for things to implode at Elland Road as the surprise appointment proved disastrous.
Hockaday was the inaugural appointment of the Cellino reign to succeed Brian McDermott but was sacked after just six matches in charge having won two of those games and his career at the top level faded rapidly thereafter.
“It isn’t easy. Mental health now is a massive issue, it does affect you, it would affect anybody,” Hockaday told Sky Sports in an interview last year.
“More importantly, your loved ones suffer. They hear things, and things are said to them that you don’t hear. They can’t do anything about it. My wife, it’s tough for her, and my friends and family.
“A lot of punters say, ‘Get rid of him, get rid of him, get rid of him’, fine, they’re not interested in the ripple effect. People look at me now, who know me really well, and they go, ‘You weren’t as nice of a person at Leeds, or Coventry, or wherever, as you are now.
“Physically, I’m in a good place. Mentally, the scars will always be there to a degree.”
Eight years on, Hockaday is now the head of football at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College which is a complete contrast to where he once was on the football ladder.
Spells at Coventry City in a caretaker role which took in two games before Tony Mowbray was appointed and then at Kidderminster Harriers were his last in full-time football management, with a spell with non-league outfit Swindon Supermarine falling in between.
Having started the first football academy in this country at Cirencester College 21 years ago, the 58-year-old made the move into training the next generation.
When Hockaday took on his new role he said: “This is my passion, this is what I believe in, and I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this to come up.
“I set up the academy at Cirencester and it went incredibly well.
“I was there for six years and turned down a lot of pro clubs, a lot of universities, eventually got approached by Watford and went on to have 20 years as a coach and manager and yet I knew I would always return to this.
“We offer the very best in football coaching as well as being educated in the importance of health and fitness, social skills, communication and the importance of teamwork.
“All of this is within a positive, safe environment, with an emphasis on having fun whilst learning.”
In an interview with Guardian two years ago, Hockaday remarkably claimed he has more resources in his current role than he did under Cellino during his 70-day spell in charge.
"I was going into Championship games blind – it was crazy," he said. "I’ve seen [Marcelo] Bielsa going on about all this data, but we had nothing.
"We had just one match analyst, one strength and conditioning coach, and it just felt unprofessional. I was thrown to the dogs, just scrambling to get information on the opposition by phoning up other managers who had played the teams. I went in at ground zero. There was virtually nothing."
Leeds United and Hockaday are now worlds apart from where they once were with the Yorkshire club kicking it with the Premier League’s best whilst the 63-year-old took a different path in his career to focus on helping the next generation of footballers.
