He couldn’t see me managing. I said ‘Did you see Carragher as a pundit?’

Welcome to my first column for West London Sport and my thoughts on my club Hayes & Yeading, cutting my teeth as a manager, and the transfer window.

The 1-0 win at Dover on Saturday was a great result for us. We’re still a work in progress but the lads are starting to learn their jobs.

What pleased me most was the clean sheet – our centre-backs Dean Inman and Charlie Wassmer were exceptional – and the way they saw the game out.

We’re trying to instil a no-fear attitude in the squad. We’ve proved we can win at Boreham Wood and now Dover and the lads will be building confidence game by game.

The core of my squad is there now but I need cover for centre-half and a defensive midfielder.

I got an interesting phone call from a colleague from my agent days. He told me about a six-foot-two centre-half who was with Paris Saint Germain’s second team and is trying to make it in English football so he will be in with us on Tuesday night and we’ll have a look at him.

This week I also spoke to someone in the industry who said he would never have seen me as a manager. But I said to him ‘could you have seen Jamie Carragher as a pundit?’.

I’m enjoying it, even though I only get the players two nights a week. The phone doesn’t stop ringing, especially with agents offering players, but I’m also talking with Tristan Lewis, my coach, analysing past performances and perhaps structuring training for a specific area we’ve picked up on.

Yesterday’s transfer deadline day doesn’t affect clubs at our level, which is fine because I don’t really like it.

I didn’t really think it was fair when I was an agent. You’ve only really got two opportunities to earn your money every year, which is why you get some odd deals sometimes.

I think the window should close before the first game of the season, once you’ve done your deals over the summer, and then maybe have a two-week window in January to tweak your squad.

I was back up at my old club Liverpool for the Notts County game last week. The result against Manchester United is going to do them the world of good but it’s too early to say it’s all clicked into place.

But of course it’s three clean sheets and when you’ve got a striker on fire like Daniel Sturridge you’re going to do all right.

Next for us is Chelmsford City, managed by Dean Holdsworth, who I played against in the Premier League. We did some business together when I was an agent and he was at Aldershot and it will be good to see him again.

He’s one of the more high-profile managers in our league but even he’s found it tough sometimes. It will be interesting pitting our wits against each other.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook