Amid three-hour lectures on football coaching theory, Nathan Jones would annoy class-mates with his geeky tendencies, hand up, begging to ask questions like an eager child.
‘I used to think, “Jesus Christ, Nathan, we’ve been in here for hours”,’ says Reading manager Paul Ince, who did his coaching licences with Jones.
As the Welshman led Championship club Luton for the final time on Tuesday night before his move to Southampton, that episode springs to mind as one which sums up Jones: a student of the game who has worked himself up from the pits of English football.