Having been involved in football all his life, Glenn Roeder is not keen to spend much more time out of the game, and having recently completed the Pro Licence he is confident that he will be back in the game very soon.

From his playing days at Leyton Orient right through to his recent spell as manager of Newcastle United, the club where he spent the best part of his playing career, Roeder has never lost his passion for the game and is eager to return to the fold.

"It's been strange in the last four or five weeks that it hasn't really hit me yet," Roeder explained. "Because I've been involved in football all my life, it hadn't hit home because anyone involved in football is away on holiday anyway at this time of year.

"Now the clubs are starting pre-season training it is sinking in that the game I have been involved in all my life, I'm not going to be part of.

"I've never been a believer in talking about luck, because I think it is just an excuse, but when I look back on the season we had that word reeled me in in the end.

"There were13 major operations to first team players, everyone of them came in matches and there was nothing wrong with our training techniques.

"Our physiotherapist Derek Wright, who has been at the club for more than 20 years, looked at previous seasons to compare that figure and the average was 2.5 operations in a season - last year we had 13.

"But I've always believed that in life, and I've had some bad experiences particularly with the brain tumour, you can't fail as long as when you get knocked down to the canvas you come out trading punches again.

"That's what I've always done and that's what I'll do again this time, where I turn up next time, I don't know.

"I haven't done anything aside from football since I left school at 16, and I know there is life outside of the game but for me, football is everything.

"My passion is as strong as ever, it's just a question of being patient and waiting to see what turns up."

That enthusiasm for a sport he has devoted his life to has certainly helped his appetite for gaining the highest coaching qualification available, in the form of the Pro Licence.

Roeder has certainly been pleased by the way the course has been run by The FA, and feels that open-minded thinking is essential to success.

Roeder told TheFA.com: "I've really loved the course, I've never been on an FA course, through taking the B Licence right up to this qualification, that I haven't enjoyed.

"You come into it with an open mind and you throw yourself into it. What's good about the Pro Licence is there are so many students who come here from all different areas of football, and this group has been very open in the way that everyone has shared their knowledge.

"All the lads are terrific to be around and it seems like only yesterday that we were here starting out onthe course, and now we have completed it. I don't know where the year has gone.

"It's a course to embrace, there is nothing to be frightened of, lots of things are in the back of your mind that get brought forward.

"I have to say The FA have brought in some great lecturers, people with a real knowledge and not always solely football-orientated; there have been speakers on business, on motivation, and those things are not specific to football but they have a relevance that you can adapt into the game and how you work.

"It's something that I think everyone should, if they can, take the course because it is terrific."

Roeder is also keen to see coaches in England picking up as much as they can from other countries in order to improve upon what we already know.

"We are very slow to change in this country, I think England is looked upon as very old-school around the world, and it's about time we joined the new school.

"There are some terrific English coaches but because traditionally we don't have a fantastic reputation, European clubs don't always look for an English coach.

"I'm pleased that Chris Coleman has joined Real Sociedad, it's terrific and you want more of that to happen. He's built a reputation as a coach in England and it's great that a club in Spain have given him a chance.

"I think the rest of Europe has got to see us coming to them for new ideas, as well as keeping what we are already good at. The established ideas and traditional values are important, if there's one area of British football that foreign coaches like it's that determination and that will to win, that shows we never know when we're beaten.

"We need to bolt onto that the tactical and technical knowledge and our players will be far better for it. There is nothing wrong with copying someone else if they are making a success of it.

"All the time you hear that we've lost a game, but didn't we show battling qualities. I'm a bit fed up of that. That's there and it'll never go away, but what you don't like hearing is that we battled but came up short in terms of tactics and technical ability.

"We're going in the right direction now, there are a group of people at The FA who are younger and who have come through the game and are open minded.

"We need to accelerate that approach throughout the game and make it more common to think 'Let's copy the techniques of the winners', where is the shame in that?"