Having guided the Hornets to fourth place following an unbeaten January, Adrian, who is currently working towards the game's highest qualification - the UEFA Pro-Licence - took time out from planning the downfall of Sheffield United on Monday to talk to TheFA.com about how he is is adapting to a life in management.

After a career which took him to Hearts and Huddersfield among others was cut short by injury at the tender age of 26, Adrian, unlike many footballers, had a plan B.

"A friend of mine had to retire when he was 19 and it shocked me," explained Adrian, who, at 34, was the youngest manager in the Championship when he took over at Vicarage Road less than a year ago.

"I did not have any qualifications from school so decided to go into coaching. I had my full coaching badge when I was 22."

Adrian did it the hard way, starting at the bottom and working his way up the coaching ladder, but he gained a valuable insight into the life of a coach during those many hours spent on the training ground.

"I have coached every age group," he explained. "When I was a player at Mansfield and Peterborough, I worked with the younger players. I was very lucky. It was a good grounding for me. Learning how to get your point across is very important."

After spells coaching Peterborough Under-17s, Under-19s and Reserves, Adrian joined Norwich City as Youth Team coach under Nigel Worthington in 2001.

Next stop was The Hawthorns where Adrian joined as West Brom's Youth Development Officer before being appointed Technical Director.

He then moved to Leeds as First Team Coach before being appointed boss at Vicarage Road.

But Adrian was not just learning on the job, picking up pointers from the likes of Worthington and Kevin Blackwell, he was putting in the hours in the classroom, and by the age of 34 had already passed his UEFA 'A' and 'B' qualifications.

At present, the Watford chief is halfway though his UEFA Pro-Licence - something all managers need if they want to work in the Premier League.

"I think any course is important, whether it's football or business, and the courses at The FA get better and better every year. Football is changed and so has The FA," he insisted.

"It's a good learning environment. You learn from the teachers, but also the other people sitting on the course, you can learn from them too. We bounce ideas off each other," he added.

The course teaches the modern day manager all he needs to know to survive in the football business, from finance to fitness, transfers to time management.

"The first thing was learning how to set-up training sessions and practising what you are going to do on the pitch. Learning how to communicate with players too. You can have all the knowledge, but if you don't know how to use it then it's useless," added Adrian.

Adrian has pitted his wits against the likes of Neil Warnock and Glenn Hoddle this year, but it's the cream of the Premier League which he admires most.

"You look up to the experienced managers, Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Alan Curbishley and Sam Allardyce, you can get a lot out of them. There's Jose Mourinho, he's come out of nowhere almost."

If Adrian keeps going, it might not be long before he finds himself battling it out with Jose and Sir Alex.

Log on to TheFA.com tomorrow to read more from Colchester boss Phil Parkinson.