Paul Hurst: Shrewsbury Town's family man
Shrewsbury Town aren't the only side to be benefitting from the coaching ability of Paul Hurst this season.
Killamarsh Dynamos Under-10s also enjoy the input of the Yorkshireman,
Heard of them? Probably not. They are the team that Hurst's nine-year-old son Zack turns out for every Sunday morning.
And you'd be sure to find family-man Hurst on the touchline, attempting to restrain himself like other competitive parents.
For Hurst is your typical hard-working family man, while also devoting far too many hours to his job as he examines every inch of Shrewsbury's upcoming opponents.
Indeed, the night before he wakes up for the biggest game of his short Salop tenure the boss will be treating daughter Millie to a 12th birthday bash alongside a gaggle of school friends.
Quite the change in atmosphere for the Shrewsbury chief – who has made a dramatically positive impression up to now.
Killamarsh, where Hurst and family reside, is right at the tip of north east Derbyshire, bordering South Yorkshire.
Having spent much of the last month clambering up and down the M1 – Hurst has not moved his young family to Shropshire – the boss concedes the fixture calender and Millie's birthday aligned at a satisfying time.
"It's fallen well in terms of fixtures," said Hurst.
"It's probably a nice distraction in some ways – although I'm not sure if I should describe my daughter's birthday as a distraction!
"Obviously family's important so I'll switch off ahead of waking up the following day with that focus.
"Zack plays for the local Sunday team, he enjoys it.I'll sometimes help with training in the week, which is nice. A bit of a break from the professional game and your job.
"I can be an angry parent on the sides sometimes! It's getting slightly worse as they're a little bit older. There are a few more competitive shouts than just the participation – which isn't quite enough for some.
"He's a central midfield player, he likes a tackle so that's one thing I'm proud of him for.
"It's only fair when you've made the decision to have children and a wife that they get some time too. Trust me, they don't get as much as they sometimes should.
"It's just an opportunity to be with them. Last Saturday we won the game and on the Sunday I was watching Sheffield United."
Melanie, Paul's wife, is far from the biggest football fan in the world – to the boss's relief.
He added: "She puts up with it, but doesn't like it!
"And I'm glad, because the worst thing I could think of is going home and discussing the game with my wife – it'd drive me mad."
Hurst was brought up an avid Wednesday fan, so locking horns with the Blades will be something special.
The ex-Grimsby chief also spent three years playing alongside his opposite number Chris Wilder while with Rotherham.
Hurst said: "Through my son's team and in the area, I know a lot of Wednesday and United fans – there are odd family members too that are split
"My dad took me to watch Wednesday and that's it then. There's no going back or changing minds. They've obviously got some nice names for each other which I won't go into!"
