Cole Skuse has underlined his ambition to become a coach after signing a new two-year contract that will take him through to the end of the 2019/20 season.
Skuse was delighted to put pen to paper on the new deal, not least because he will become a father for the third time this summer. "It’s been nice to get it done early rather than later,” he explained. "My wife is heavily pregnant and it’s less stress for her to deal with.
"Getting the deal done now, rather than waiting until the summer when she is due to give birth, is nice for us. I appreciate the other lads’ help, as well as the gaffer’s help, plus the hierarchy at the club. Now I’m aiming to get some coaching qualifications.
"I’m going to make the most of my wife being pregnant and due to give birth in the summer. We won’t be having a holiday so I’m booked on a few coaching courses to get my badges.
"This is definitely an avenue I want to go down in the not too distant future. Even if I don’t get a job, I’ll have my badges.”
Skuse was asked how he envisaged his future in the game and replied: "It’s dependent on Chambo. If Chambo gets a first team job somewhere he might take me with him.
"No, seriously, I don’t have a real burning desire or aspirations to be a first team manager. I don’t think that’s for me. First-team coach, maybe, or I’d like to work at the top end of an academy, working with the older players at the academy.”
Town are not short of talented young midfielders, with the likes of Andre Dozzell, Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam having already made an impact at first team level with a number of others making an impression behind them in the academy, and Skuse is looking to play a part in their development during his time at the club, which he hopes will extend beyond playing.
He added: "I’ll be trying to do my bit at coaching — coaching them not to be like me! If I can turn my hand to a bit of coaching during the week, then towards the tail end of my contract do a bit more coaching here, I’d love to stick around and be part of the club.
"There’s a great crop in and around the first team squad at the moment and even younger than them we’ve seen how the lads did in the FA Youth Cup, having a great run and doing very, very well.
"I’m not daft enough to think I’m still 22 or 23 and can play however many years ahead. I’m just going about my business and if I’m selected, I’m selected.”
Skuse admitted he is learning a lot about coaching from Town manager Mick McCarthy but added: "It’s not just the gaffer here, it’s the gaffers and coaches I’ve played for throughout my career. You pick up little bits and bobs from all of them.
"Sad as it may seem, I’ve got a little notebook at home and when I go home after certain training sessions or team talks I jot things down.
"I’m keen to take things on board from people who have been around for donkey’s years — not that they might appreciate me saying that.
"They’ve been around for a long, long time so they’ve got a knowledge of how to conduct themselves, both during training and off the training field as well.
"I try to be a bit of a sponge and write stuff down. It’s not just the gaffer, there’s the academy staff too — people like Bryan Klug, Lee O’Neill, Gerard Nash, all of them, they’re fantastic coaches.
"I’ve had the notebook a little while now but it’s not something I go home and do religiously. Usually, when I get home I’m walking dogs, changing dirty nappies and tidying up after the kids.
"It’s just every now and again, if I see or hear something that I thought was brilliant and see it as worth noting.”
Skuse said that when it came to considering his new deal he also discussed whether McCarthy might be on his way to pastures new in the summer. "The gaffer’s quite open in the sense that his office door is always open to anyone with something to talk about, football or non-football related,” he explained.
"I’ve asked the question and he says it’s something that he and Marcus are looking to sort out between themselves and that it will be resolved in due course.”
Meanwhile, a Skuse goal at Carrow Road would be something of a collectors’ item — only his third in 197 games for Town. But he pointed out: "I have scored a goal there before but you will have to look through the archives to find it.
"I’d love to say it was a worldie but it wasn’t. It was for Bristol City away to Norwich many moons ago [February 2009]. We won the game [2-1] and I scored our first goal.”
Defender Jonas Knudsen has scored in two of the last three East Anglian derby fixtures and was within a whisker of making it a hat-trick when he saw a stunning shot crash back off an upright in the meeting between the sides at Portman Road earlier in the season.
Skuse added: "Jonas has been our top man at finishing this week. He always seems to do well against Norwich so we’ve had a couple of shooting sessions and he’s done very well.”