People often ask me what I will do when I retire from both work and football management – I don’t normally like to think that far ahead, but that does not mean I don’t know.

There are lots of things I want to do, be it with my family or around sport, but there is one thing I am desperate to do that involves both.

I have been a cricket fan since I was a young lad, since the days when my brother and I would get the bus down to the County Ground to watch Hampshire play.

I was only eight years old at the time, and there I was, watching the likes of Barry Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Gordon Greenidge and Andy Roberts – is it any wonder I have a great love for cricket?

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My love of it came from my dad really, and my brother and I played cricket for the school, Southampton boys and Hampshire schoolboys.

As a youngster, I used to bat at four, and bowl medium fast, but as I got a bit older I opened the batting and went to being a very gentle Eddie Hemmings off-spinner.

I did not turn the ball a lot – I was a spinner who could not spin it, but I got a lot of lbws.

Now it is a watching brief, but I am old school in some respects because I much prefer the Test Match area to the T20 smash and grab stuff.

My wife and I, yes, she loves cricket too, were at the Oval for part of the recent England v Pakistan Test and it is a completely different experience to T20s.

I love the nuances of test cricket, there is so much that can change in one session. It is a very tactical game. It ebbs and flows. A lot of people find it boring, but I find it intriguing.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for T20 and the one day game, in fact I very much enjoy them.

When the Rose Bowl was opened, we took the kids there a lot and they were some very enjoyable days out.

Is there a future for the County Championship? Although it seems to be watching by one man and his dog these days, I doubt it will ever disappear completely because the England team need it – so it has a purpose.

But it is the Tests that I love.

So when my wife and I get to retirement age, it is our dream to become paid up members of the Barmy Army.

We want to watch England play in Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies – anywhere we can.

It’s a fantastic thing to watch and support, and you get to see different parts of the world – what could be better?

Maybe three points at Gateshead on Saturday…?