Mark Fotheringham says that dealing with the demands of being a Celtic player will help him in trying to clinch Huddersfield Town's return to English Premier League territory.
He only made a handful of senior appearances for the Premiership champions before leaving in 2003 following a four-year stint as a youngster, but the 38-year-old has forged himself an excellent coaching career after an eye-opening Freiburg loan. It started at German side Karlsruher SC and after a player-assistant role at current Lowland League club Cowdenbeath, he's coached at FC Ingolstadt and Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin, now appointed head coach at Huddersfield.
They were in the top tier of English football only a few seasons ago but find themselves 23rd in the Championship after 10 games. It's Fotheringham's ambition to get them back to where they once were and lessons learned in his early days at Celtic will help him in that quest.
He told club media: "There's been a lot of speculation regarding myself going to the Bundesliga but there's a real excitement here. We know Huddersfield have an identification with the German way and we felt it was a good fit for me. We know there's great rewards to go to the place we want to go, the Premier League.
"I'm looking forward to showing what I can bring to the table. I had a lot of experiences in different cultures and it was very important for my development. When I went to Freiburg, I fell in love with German football.
"I made a deal with myself as a young coach. I wanted to work in the Bundesliga, which I've now done, and the second was I wanted to work in the Premier League. This gives me a good opportunity to go there, but we need to be careful not to get too far ahead of ourselves.
"I enjoy working in an environment where there's pressure. I've been used to that. I was brought up and developed at Celtic. With Celtic, it's pressure week in, week out. I want to bring a German mentality to English football at this level but with my Scottish personality."
