Blues temporary assistant boss Chris Hogg says he and father-in-law George Burley regularly talk football over family dinners and says the legendary Town right-back and manager has given him great support during his early years in coaching.
Hogg married Burley’s daughter Lisa in 2010 having met her when a young player with the Blues earlier in the decade and says his father-in-law has been a big influence.
"He’s great, he is a very special person,” Hogg said. "He’s had a great football career as a player and as a manager here as well and he’s gone on to manage other places and other clubs.
"We have some honest chats, just general, nothing specific, we’ll sit down over dinner sometimes and football’s always on the telly and we’re always talking about the games.
"It’s very informal but what you do realise is his knowledge of the game and his passion for the game still.
"But he’s great, he doesn’t impose his will on me, he doesn’t necessarily tell me exactly what it is but he’s there if I need him, so he’s great and gives great support.”
Burley brought Middlesbrough-born Hogg to Town from York City’s youth system in 2001 for compensation of £150,000, the young defender having won England caps at U15 and U16 levels. He went on to play for the Young Lions’ U18s and U19s during his time at Town, although he never made a senior appearance for the Blues.
Reflecting on the huge impact that move ultimately had on him, Hogg reflected: "I met my wife here when I was 17 years old, six months after George left. If it wasn’t for him bringing me down here I would never have met my wife.
"Life has a funny way of working things out. Again, I look at it and it was probably meant for me to come down here and meet my wife and eventually relocate back here with my wife and family and come back into the football club and try and give my best again for the football club developing the players.
"But I look back on it with a little bit of humour really because he signed me, he was my gaffer and then six months later I met his daughter. There’s a funny story, I could sit here and tell you a story, but I won’t, but the first encounter was quite humorous.”
Turning to his lack of involvement in the Town first team, he said: "There were circumstances why I never played at this football club. Things happen for reasons in life, I’m a massive believer in that.”
Those circumstances are understood to relate to York being due further cash if he played first team football the Blues, something Town, only recently out of administration, were not in a position to do.
"That’s a long time ago, I’ve managed to forget about it,” Hogg added when asked about that situation. "It took me a while to get over it but it’s not something I want to talk about really, it’s not fair.
"It was circumstances and I’m comfortable with that. Sometimes in life things aren’t meant to be, so I don’t really want to start delving into that and going into that.”
He admits it was a frustrating period: "Any time as a footballer where you’re not playing and you feel you should be is difficult but again that’s life, you’ve got to get on with it, you’ve got to suck it up and get on with it.”
Hogg eventually left the Blues to follow former Town skipper and coach Tony Mowbray to Hibernian in Scotland in January 2005. However, injuries hampered his career and he says he never hit the heights he had hoped to.
"I had a bad injury at 25 or 26, I had a really good few years up at Hibs and I loved that place and loved playing there and did relatively well there at that level,” said the 33-year-old, who retired from professional football while with Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2013.
"But I was always trying to strive for more and sometimes I think I just couldn’t quite get there for whatever reason.
"Again, I think that goes back into my mindset as a coach, I don’t want that feeling of not being able to be the best I can. So that is my drive now really, to try and help the players I’m working with because there are certain elements that I didn’t have coming up as a coach and I try and fill those voids and work on all corners of a player.”
He returned to Suffolk having hung up his professional boots, spending a short spell playing for Needham Market, and returned to Town and the academy.
"My wife dragged me back down, I had connections in the area through my wife, but Bryan was still at the club, I played with Gerard Nash in the youth team, he was a year below me, and Liam Manning was in my youth team. He was taking the U16s at the time and Liam is one of my good friends and he said, ‘Come on Hoggy, come in’.
"I was coaching anyway, throughout my playing career I tried to coach younger players and I was taking youth teams at the clubs I was at at times, dipping in and out of it and trying to develop my experience that way.
"I already had qualifications to come back. Bryan was great and said any time I wanted to come in I could and it started from there really.
"I started working part time and just got in the building full-time and I’ve come through that way.
"I’ve been back now for five years. I’ve had pretty much every age group, every role so it’s been an accelerated learning period.
"But I see it as a really good opportunity for me because you learn different elements when you’re with the younger kids, you learn a bit more depth to your coaching in terms of breaking everything right down to making it as simplistic as you can with every element of it.
"It’s still the same as you go up the levels but obviously you’re torn on how you coach and your coaching style has to change considerably. It’s been really good.”
Meanwhile, he is pleased for his former manager Mowbray that he has taken Blackburn back into the Championship at the first time of asking.
"Delighted, I texted him the day after,” Hogg said. "Tony is again a special human being. You can see from what he’s done with his management career and how he handles things and how humble he is with everything, he’s obviously well known in these parts.
"He’s done a great job at Blackburn, he really has and again massive respect to him and his staff, Mark Venus is there as well, another ex-player here.
"It will be really good to see them in the Championship next year and for him personally I wish him all the best and see what he can do.”
When it was suggested Mowbray would be a good fit for the job at Town, Hogg remained diplomatic.
"Listen, I’ll leave that for everyone else to speak about,” he said. "He’s a great man and a great manager but that’s not for me to speak about.”