NEALE FENN can remember the exact moment he decided that management was not for him.

But the ex-Tottenham, Cork City, Bohemians, Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers striker can also recall the difficult times that made him change his mind.

3 Neale Fenn can recall the moment that made him decide to get into management

Fenn, 41, has First Division Longford Town in the promotion hunt in his first full season in charge, having taken over during the summer break last term.

But he admits that, during the final months of his playing career with Rovers in 2010, he swore he would never, ever, put on a suit and patrol the technical area.

And there was one moment that he thought put him off it for good — a last-minute Glen Crowe winner for Sporting Fingal that seemingly ended the Hoops’ title hopes in the 2010 season.

Michael O’Neill’s side ended up winning the league but, on that afternoon, having led 1-0 with three minutes to go and lost for the fifth time in six games, that seemed unlikely.

3 Michael O'Neill as Shamrock Rovers boss

Fenn recalled: “I looked at Michael and thought, ‘Why would you put yourself through the stress? Why? He was there, he looked beaten.

“It had never really crossed my mind to go into management anyway as I always thought I’d do something different. But at the end of my career I’d started my coaching badges just in case.

“But, looking at Michael, that was the turning point for me. I thought, ‘No, I’ll never do it’. So when I retired, I didn’t want to get back in.

“I did a brief spell helping Darius Kierans and Damien Richardson at Drogheda for a couple of months. But that was me done.”

So what changed? A six-game stint in April of last year as assistant manager to Omer Riza at Leyton Orient.

The Londoners were in dire straits at the bottom of League Two and all was not well off the field either. But Fenn loved it.

He explained: “I got the buzz back. There was a lot going on at the club. The chairman was selling the club, the players were going on strike, it was a real challenge in every game.

“We went away to Luton, who were flying at the time, and got a draw. We beat Hartlepool and Jeff Stelling was on Soccer Saturday screaming about the result.

“I loved being involved. When I got back to Ireland, I thought, ‘Right, I want a job’ so I applied at Longford and, luckily, I got it.”

3 Fenn in his playing days at Shamrock Rovers

Having jumped head first into a crazy division, Fenn’s first year in charge has not changed his views on management.

Fourth place is enough to get into the play-offs and that has meant there is something riding on virtually every game.

A shock 6-1 loss at Shelbourne last Friday saw Town lose ground on their promotion rivals. But they remain just four points off a play-off spot with five games to go — and three of those are against teams in the promotion hunt.

Fenn insisted: “You want to win the league and go straight up as the play-offs are going to be very hard. Fourth plays third and the winner plays second. And the winner of that plays a Premier team.

“But we’re in the mix and we want to stay there.”

A full-time player during his career, he has had to get used to go dealing with part-time footballers.

Fenn explained: “You have to get used to only seeing your players three times a week but I trust them.

“The culture is different, they’re not taking pictures of pints on Instagram, it’s more fashionable to take a selfie in the gym. Most don’t drink. A few do but that’s OK once it’s not before a game.”

But the basics of management he learned from those he played under, such as O’Neill, Richardson, Pat Fenlon and Pat Dolan, still apply.

He added: “As crazy as it sounds, I learned the most off Michael. He may have put me off it but I learned so much.

“Being my last manager, I was looking at him more anyway — the way he prepared, the knowledge he had.”

Fenn is a big fan of Dolan but the Longford gaffer — always smartly dressed on the line — is concerned his former boss is dressing too casually.

He joked: “I’ve met him a couple of times since, he’s dressing down a little bit now, he’s like a rapper!

“With Pat, he knew everything about everybody. He knew what you had for breakfast and we’d go into Europe and he knew everything about the opposition.

“Remember, this was 15 years ago when you couldn’t just go on to the internet and watch a game. His research was incredible. But I learned off so many other managers.”