FROM the San Siro to the County Ground, Andy King knows just where he would rather be.

After years of travelling around Europe's footballing hotspots, Town's caretaker boss is enjoying his return to the hectic life of management.

He has said goodbye to the likes of AC Milan and Real Madrid for the splendour of Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers.

His role as European scout for Sunderland may sound like a job made in heaven, but for Kingy there is nothing better than being involved at the sharp end.

And after two games in charge at Town he admits the emotions are charged and firing again. Like a man with a noose around his neck, King knows that results matter. A couple more wins under his belt will surely secure him as Town's permanent boss.

It would be a dream job for the former Everton hero who is loving every minute of his re-emergence from the footballing wilderness.

"I am playing hangman at the moment," he said. "I am in the noose and the chair is wobbling. I have not fallen off yet and I am still hanging on to this chance.

"It is enjoyable tension, but I said to the chairman after Tuesday's win that I am not sure if I want this pressure.

"My mum had to go to bingo so that she could avoid teletext because she was a nervous wreck and my wife wouldn't speak to me before the game because she was too nervous. Why would I want this job? I don't know, but I do."

The emotions, however, are making him feel alive.

"When I was scouting with Peter Reid at Sunderland, which was the joy of my life because he is the best manager in the country and it was a wonderful job, I had no emotions," he said. I was travelling the world to watch games of football and I was going to see AC Milan and Real Madrid and reporting back to Peter Reid.

"But I was just doing it. It was repetitive, it was the same thing over again.

"I would go home on a Saturday night and I either get drunk because I was happy or I got drunk because I was happy. There was nothing else. I had no emotions.

"Now, as a manager, I have got real emotions and I know I am alive. I was disappointed on Saturday at Notts County but the Cambridge win was total joy. I wonder what is next? It is my job to keep it going."

King stepped back into football last summer when he joined Town as assistant to manager Colin Todd.

The duo enjoyed working together along with number three Malcolm Crosby until Todd's resignation last week after only six months in the job.

King was immediately asked to take over the first team by chairman Terry Brady and now he has the chance to make the job his.

He has already noticed a number of changes since taking the caretaker role.

"The bits that come with the job are important, they let you know that suddenly you are in a different position in life," he said.

"The staff are calling me Mr King now where before it was Kingy, and when I went to the club bar and asked for a cigar I got a King Edward where as before all I got was a Hamlet. Everything changes."

But it is out on the pitch where King really notices the difference.

"As manager you can make the decisions. As a coach under Colin I would give him a worried look and say 'Do you think perhaps we should take Graz off?'

"Now if I want to, I can take Graz off and that is the simple reason why I enjoy it. It is your decision. You live and die with yourself," he said.

"I feel that Colin Todd is a top manager and it was my chance to get back into the game again by working with a top manager.

"Maybe I have learned a few things from him over the past three months. I would not have come back into the coaching side of things for a manager who I did not have belief in."

Indeed, he believes he has learned a great deal from both Todd and Peter Reid.

"They were two very strong characters and there was a high learning curve." he said.

"They both have bad tempers and I doubt I learned much of the Queen's English under Reidy, but without doubt I will have taken something out of both of them and mixed it with what I have already got. Maybe I will do alright.

"It has been a good start, anyway."

Matt Reeder