When you hear about a manager parting company with a club, he has usually either been sacked or he has resigned - but there are actually lots of different ways you can leave.

Over the years I spent working at every level of the game in England - from the bottom to the top - I have witnessed and been involved in many break-ups.

Some are smooth but others are far more fractious and don't happen face-to-face.

I've witnessed managers being sacked over the phone or by text, or hearing they are losing their job by word of mouth.

One of the most soul-destroying times for a manager is when speculation is rife regarding not only your imminent sacking, but also about who is going to replace you.

During my career, I knew certain individuals who actually put their names forward for jobs before a manager is even sacked. Some go to the club involved through agents, some directly to the owners themselves.

Many managers are sounded out before eventually being appointed - and another policy, which has become popular with clubs, is to drop names out to the press about possible replacements to see the supporters' reactions.

For the manager who is still in place, and whose stress levels are through the roof, it is devastating, However, it is just another part of the job that you have to handle.

I have experienced that situation myself, in a scenario which went on for many months. Your confidence, not only in yourself but also in the club's hierarchy, takes another massive knock.

When it happened to me, I had heard about the club's intentions from people in the media at quite an early stage, and I had also worked out where the new manager would be coming from, but I had to bite my lip.

Myself and my staff were under contract, so we had to just carry on. We kept pulling results out of the bag, which delayed the inevitable, but eventually I knew my time was up.