Fabio Capello, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers: Shrewsbury Town's Mike Jackson has learnt from the top

The current Shrewsbury Town caretaker boss has been at the reins for less than three weeks, having been handed a five-game run while bosses decide on a permanent successor to Graham Turner.

But the 40-year-old ex-defender has had the privilege of picking the brains of such esteemed managerial names as ex-England and AC Milan boss Fabio Capello, Napoli chief and former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, current Anfield leader Brendan Rodgers and Fulham chief Rene Meulensteen – who enjoyed a successful spell as a coach at Manchester United working under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Jackson has been laying the groundwork for a managerial career for some time and in June 2012 he completed his UEFA Pro Licence – the sport's highest qualification.

All four of the above names were among the guest speakers during that course and Jackson said it had been a "great" experience hearing their views on the game.

He said: "It was great. The pro licence itself is an excellent course. It's hard work, but it was good.

"When Capello spoke it was just an open floor. He took questions from managers – because at the time it was the refresher course as well, so you had managers there who had already been on the course.

"They tied it in so there were managers from all over the country with vast experience.

"I don't really want to go into details about what was said by Capello but it was good hearing his thoughts on the World Cup 2010, what he thought went wrong, what he thought they could have done better.

"Benitez was very good, very meticulous in his planning. He spoke about going into different clubs, dealing with different cultures and different players.

"Brendan Rodgers spoke about his philosophy and how he came through from a young coach working with the kids to where he is now.

"So there were some really good speakers there and you took information from everyone."

"It was brilliant. Another of the speakers was Rene Meulensteen who did a presentation on preparing to beat Barcelona.

"To get that incite into a top coach and a top club working towards a game like that was great. The openness from all the speakers was excellent and you can't help but learn from that. "

Jackson, who also picked up plenty of knowledge during his three-and-a-half year coaching stint working with Turner at the Greenhous Meadow, has taken a lot from his previous bosses and colleagues during his playing days.

Jackson played alongside and then under current Manchester United boss David Moyes during his seven-year spell as a defender at Preston, which began in 1997.

Moyes had been a player at Deepdale since 1993 and he was promoted to manager in early 1998, remaining at the helm until 2002 when he made the move to Everton.

Ex-Bury boss Stan Ternent, former Tranmere chief Brian Little and ex-Preston manager Billy Davies – now in his second spell at Nottingham Forest – have also had a big influence on Jackson, who played for Crewe, Bury, Preston,Tranmere Rovers, Blackpool and Shrewsbury.

Asked which managers have had the biggest influences on him during that time. he said: "David Moyes was a big influence as a player and then as a young manager.

"I had Stan Ternant, as an old school sort of manager, who taught me a lot about what it means to be a professional.

"Another one along the way was Brian Little, as well as Billy Davies because of his coaching, his philosophy and his intensity.

"But you take a bit from everybody, even players that you have played with who have worked for managers, you try to take information out of everybody.

"Brendan Rodgers said 'You have got to be looking at everything.' You are thieves really, you are taking bits from everybody and then putting it all together in a way that you want – and that is the way that I try to do it, I look at everything."