I was still the Switzerland manager when I came home one afternoon to a message on the telephone from Giacinto Facchetti of Inter Milan.

It was a very brief message. “I am Giacinto Facchetti – can you call me?”

I’d met him a couple of times when I was with Malmo, and we had played Inter Milan in the European Cup.

“I wonder what that’s about?” I said to my wife. When I called him back, he explained that Massimo Moratti was looking for a new coach and that they had identified me as someone they would like. So a meeting was set up.

On the day of the meeting, there was also a big game between Basel and Grasshoppers at St Jakob Park. The plan was that I would go to the game and then drive directly from there to Milan overnight. I would then meet Massimo Moratti the following day.

It took longer than I expected to get away from the stadium, of course, and then the tunnel that leads from Basel was closed. Instead, I had to go over the pass – which, with it starting to snow, was a really bad experience.