In his previous incarnation as a player-manager (failed), however, Butcher would have been more likely to try to run the club canteen, cook the meals himself, then do the dishes after morning training, rather than simply hand out the mid-afternoon nibbles.

Butcher admits that his managerial career has been anything but sugar-coated and one reason for the lingering bad taste was that he allowed the job and all its responsibilities to engulf his whole life.

By day, he would miserably fail to delegate, preferring to rule and work on all aspects of the football club. By night, thoughts of the club would buzz around in his head, destroying any hope of him enjoying a comfortable family evening.

Spending eight years out of frontline management since leaving Sunderland has taken Butcher through coaching jobs at Raith Rovers and Dundee United.

But the 18 months away from coaching altogether, in which he worked in recruitment with new Motherwell boss Eric Black, was the time in which Butcher realised that his life inside the game, after a decorated playing career, had been botched. He explained: 'You can be very blinkered when you're in a club and not focus on things that you should do.

'There are other things of more value, like your family life and seeing your wife at decent hours. I think before working for the agency, myself and Eric were 110-percent involved in our jobs and that can overtake you.

'I never wanted to delegate as a manager. I found it difficult to do so.

'I remember driving up to Sunderland from Coventry. I had just become player-manager there and was driving from the house in Coventry in the early hours. I got off the A19 and up to the summit of a hill on a dual carriageway and the car wouldn't go much further.

'I looked down at the petrol gauge and it was on empty. There was nothing left. I just hadn't noticed for miles and miles because I'd been thinking constantly about the way the club was run.

'Now that was scary, because something bad might have happened. Fortunately, at the time, I could let the car freewheel down the hill and I found a petrol station at the bottom.'

After leaving Rangers, Butcher was dropped straight into management. Although totally ill-prepared for what lay ahead, he hoped to go to the very top as a manager, just as he had as a towering defender.

Lifting trophies in England and Scotland, and World Cup Finals appearances, were his bread and butter - so that's where he wanted to be as a boss. But neither high-profile post down south worked and today the prospect of being a manager fills him with dread.

'I don't want to be a manager ever again,' he said. 'I am extraordinarily happy to be No.2. I don't think I'll get a call anyway to go and manage in England. There are other people there who know more than me about what is happening.

'What used to annoy me was people saying great players don't make great managers. I'm not saying I was a great player but I won a lot of things and played internationals. Yet nothing prepared me for going from player at Rangers to player-manager at Coventry - their PFA management course was all but dissolved because of a lack of interest.

'Being player-manager is awful. It was worst at Sunderland because I'd been a player, one of the lads, and then suddenly became manager.

'Your confidence gets dented but I still felt I could offer something in the game.

'I opened a hotel and it wasn't until 1997 that Jimmy Nicholl made me reserve coach at Raith. I've done everything the wrong way round. I think back and shudder at the whole thing.'

So Butcher, a leader of his country, Ipswich Town and Rangers in his best days, prefers the background now.

'Eric can deal with the media, the directors and agents,' he explained. 'I'd rather deal with the nitty gritty of the players.

'If they can get my feelings on winning games and being passionate about it, we can do fine. There are bits of my game that I don't want to give them - abuse of referees and kicking doors. Generally, I've quietened down.

'But I'm more emotional and intense than Eric. He's Mr Cool and I'm Mr Never Cool. When I rant and rave, I am loud and I will say things but I'm not over the top.

'This is a quiet club, like so many are now. They don't communicate, they don't talk. Maybe there is someone here who can be loud and it might rub off on them.'

Butcher's promptings might have something to do with all levels of the Motherwell team - Under-18, Under-21 and the Premier League side - winning last weekend.

It's a start, but Butcher and Black's hopes for Motherwell are part of a long-term strategy. The days when Butcher lost himself while trying to find a quick winning formula for his football team are long gone. Or are they?

He explained: 'When our wives knew we were coming back to the game, neither of them wanted us to be as committed as before. You can still work, handle hours correctly, do a good job and have a life outside the game.

'Rita realised holidays would go, the time off would go. I'd come back a crabbit b****** when I lost.

'It wasn't so much the contract with the club, it was the unwritten one with her that had to be organised.