Ipswich Town icon Marcus Stewart is back in football after taking on the role of 'head of player development' at National League club Yeovil Town.
The 49-year-old - whose goals fired the Blues to promotion in 2000, followed by a fifth-place Premier League finish - previously coached at Exeter City, Bristol Rovers and Walsall, but decided to take a break from the game in 2020 to spend more time with his family.
He is reunited with new Glovers boss Chris Hargreaves, the pair having worked together at Bristol Rovers, and returns to a club where he played from 2006-08, helping fire the team to a League One Play-Off Final.
Yeovil dropped out of the Football League in 2019 and finished 12th in the season just gone, finishing behind the likes of Stockport, Wrexham, Notts County, Grimsby, Chesterfield and Torquay.
"I have been out of football for a little while now," said Stewart, who has co-commentated on some of Ipswich's South West based games for BBC Radio Suffolk over the last two seasons.
"But when Chris called me it felt like the right thing to do.
"I spoke to the chairman and he came across as a really good guy. I'm a pretty good judge of character I think. I've met lots of people in football over the years so I've got experience of sussing people out and he came across great.
"Obviously I've worked with Chris before. He knows what I'm about. He knows he can trust me and that I haven't got an ego.
"I'm quite experienced as an assistant manager, with over 700 games. Obviously I've got a playing career to fall back on as well. I'm just here to develop players and help him and his staff if they need a sounding board.
"Chris and the chairman sold it to me. They've said we are going to have a right go this year. That's the plan anyway."
Stewart originally joined Yeovil on loan in 2006 before later making the move permanent. He scored nine goals that campaign, including one in a dramatic play-off semi-final underdog win against Nottingham Forest.
The Somerset side had lost the first leg 2-0 on home soil, but came back to win the second leg 5-2 at the City Ground to set up a Wembley final against Blackpool (which they lost 2-0).
Memories of that period sees Stewart tell an anecdote that involves former Ipswich Town captain Luke Chambers.
"We went to Forest in the league - lost," recalls the front man. "We played them at home in the league - lost. Then we got them in the play-offs and lost the first leg at home and hadn't really had a sniff at goal.
"But I remember their players coming in after that first leg and celebrating like they'd won the tie, not just the game.
"I pulled Luke Chambers (then Forest captain) in the tunnel because it annoyed me. I won't tell you exactly what I said to him, but it was along the lines of 'you guys have just given us more motivation to go and beat you at your place now'.
"He was like 'no, no, no', but I wasn't having it. I was annoyed and I had to get it off my chest to someone!
"Of course we went there and beat them in the most dramatic way."
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Reflecting further, he adds: "This club kind of saved my career, really. I left Bristol City under a bit of a cloud. I wasn't really enjoying my football or myself on and off the pitch. So coming down here kind of saved me.
"Everyone kind of took me in and made me feel welcome. Obviously it always helps when you play well. We had a great group and that was one of the most successful teams in Yeovil's history, so to be part of that obviously gives you good memories."
On what he feels he can bring to Yeovil as a coach, Stewart said: "I've always been quite humble, I always try to be polite to people and I'm all for having a laugh and some banter. But I expect everyone to work hard and try their best. People who know me will know I've got a bit of anger in me if it needs to come out.
"I draw on all my experiences, whether that's promotions, relegations, managers I liked, managers I didn't get on with. It's not one particular moment that makes you as a coach. You work out what works for you along the way.
"This is a club I'm fond of, a club that's local to me and I'm here to do my best."
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