The moment his recent Manchester derby winner is mentioned, Tom Huddlestone starts laughing. "I've seen the statistics: no one on the field was born that day when I made my professional debut," he says. "That wasn't great!"
The 'pitch' was not Old Trafford, or even the Etihad, but the Leigh Valley Sports Village. And the match did not take place in the Premier League, but is equivalent to under-21s.
Now the statistic Huddlestone is referring to is technically inaccurate - Manchester United teammate Dermot Mee was almost one when the 16-year-old Huddlestone made his Derby bow in August 2003 - but it still begs the question: why is the former England international Huddlestone, now 37 and with almost 250 top appearances, playing for an under-21 side?
Simple. Despite Huddlestone's last appearance in the Football League over two years ago, he is far from retired. Huddlestone remains a full-time footballer, but with an eye to the future. While Huddlestone once captained Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, or looked to add to his four England caps, development is now the main focus - both of United's Academy talent and his young coaching career.
That said, the occasional Papa John's Trophy outing remains a welcome occasion. "Even if there are only three or four thousand," he tells Telegraph Sport, grinning. "It gets the juices flowing again!"
Huddlestone's hybrid player-coach role was previously filled by former Hull teammate Paul McShane. Jay Spearing holds a similar position at Liverpool. The concept? Bridge the gap between playing and coaching in a mutually beneficial way.
For Huddlestone, it came about, if not by accident, then certainly not by design. After a summer 2022 release by Hull, his "...first thought was to keep playing. But none of the offers floated my boat."
The story continues
A retiring McShane had secretly suggested Huddlestone as his potential successor. "We had spoken during the season," Huddlestone explains. "Maybe he thought I meant a hint!" A chat with senior United Academy staff Travis Binnion and Mark Dempsey later had Huddlestone signed.
His days are much fuller now than when he was a pure player. Huddlestone arrives early to schedule meetings. He will set up the lineup, participate in the warm-up, and then lead part of each session. "Say mine is a passing drill at the beginning, then I take that and when I can catch my breath I join in. Then I am a player who helps the boys from within."
Huddlestone organizes position-specific sessions twice a week. Measuring numbers is the hardest part. "Maybe I have something in my mind that I need eight players, but I still have two or three left," he says. "The challenge is finding the balance and the adaptability to still pursue the same result."
Academy colleagues Erik ten Hag and the wider first-team staff are all open to Huddlestone's questions. He has mastered new computer skills and clearly loves his new role. He describes this as "perfect for senior professionals who still want a competitive advantage, but also want to look behind the scenes."
"There is so much detail in everything. As a player I took that for granted. I don't know where I thought the information in team meetings came from, but it was just there. You don't realize how many hours the staff put in!"
Huddlestone acknowledges that coaching at academy and first-team level differs. The former is "mainly about developing players individually," in the hope that they - like Kobbie Mainoo, the mention of who spins Huddlestone - move on to the latter. The focus is then on "the team and achieving three points".
Reserve team football used to occupy the space between the two, and Huddlestone still believes this would be a welcome extra step. At 15, he would skip double the amount of gym and graphics on Thursday mornings to train with Derby. When he left school he became a regular in the Championship. "But if I hadn't played maybe 12 reserve team games at school, I don't think I would have had the confidence to play men's football," Huddlestone explains.
"The teams were proud to win the reserve competition. We played at Forest once and Wes Morgan and Des Walker played. That's my problem, not a problem with football, but I think the jump now, especially at Premier League clubs, from under-21s to the first team is huge."
Marco Silva, his head coach at Hull in 2017, inspired Huddlestone's new path after working with the Portuguese for five months and leaving a lifelong impression. "Even though I was approaching 30, he did things that no one had done with me in the last 14 seasons," Huddlestone says. "He was almost no-nonsense; 'This is what i want'. I've had some great managers, but I don't think I've ever had the detail that Marco gave. Wherever the ball was, I knew where I, and the other nine field players, had to be."
Do you have to be obsessed like Silva to coach? "I think so." Are you? Another grin. "I drive thinking about possession, passing drills or having flashbacks to the last game - it takes over your mind."
Huddlestone speaks with assured clarity - also about his ambition. "Ultimately I want to lead," he says. "If I didn't regret it after 20 years of playing, I think I would regret it in my 50s."
However, Huddlestone realizes how much he still has to learn. "I've seen people get jobs too quickly - I don't want to do that." Ideally, he explains, the next step would be managing an under-18 team or assisting an under-21 team.
Currently, the FA's International Player to Coach course is supporting his development. Modules include the obvious - such as one on the importance of backroom staff - and the not-so - "mock interviews...I've never had those!"
Until his retirement, Huddlestone will provide a listening ear in both playing and coaching camps. And so he avoids "b--ing the players as if they were a full-fledged staff member," admitting that "...once I become a manager, I might have to add that to my arsenal!"
For now, issues like the one that ruled him out of Friday night's Liverpool match remain a threat. "It would have been nice to be back on the pitch at Old Trafford," Huddlestone admits. Unprompted, he adds: "There will be a decent crowd and hopefully we will get a positive result." A future manager, for sure.
