Duncan Sinclair eats, sleeps and breathes football … and cannot wait for the new season to start.

But with his Larkhall Thistle side idle at the moment, 'Sinky' has discovered a new way of keeping busy - by helping out with a local boys team.

It doesn't court many favours with the wife, but it at least keeps his hand in and, anyway, the Gasworks Park side start their pre-season training this Saturday.

He told SportTimes: "I love my football, which is just as well, because management takes up an awful lot of your time.

"If truth be told I'd probably much rather still be playing, because the only thing you worried about back then was whether or not you were in the starting XI. There is just a wee bit more to management.

"That said, I love the job and you get great satisfaction from doing your bit to help players improve, and seeing them do a job for you."

Sinky's Larkhall side mounted a decent charge for promotion last season and it was only a disastrous four-game run which put the brakes on.

The Jags lost to Cambuslang Rangers and Shettleston, then drew their next two, and that was that.

Sinclair said: "It was my fourth season and we really were doing well up until we had a bad patch in the March.

"It killed us and there was no way back. To pick up just two points from a possible 12 left us out of the picture.

"To make matters worse, the likes of Neilston, Shettleston and Dunipace were winning week in, week out.

"Those four bad results in four weeks undone all the good work we had put in up until that point. Then, it was just a case of wanting the season to end."

But the former Cumnock and Maryhill star is forever the optimist and is already looking forward to the new campaign, and trying to get out of what he has termed a "really tough league."

He said: "The Central District First Division will be a hard place to ply your trade in the coming season.

"There are a lot of good teams in it, including Bellshill, Dunipace, St Anthony's and Maryhill, and then you have the likes of Lesmahagow and Renfrew.

"The Super League is the promised land but it is really difficult for teams like Larkhall to get there, although that will never stop us trying.

"We have a good hardcore fan base, but it is still mostly down to finance. Our players work incredibly hard for a pittance, but they give me everything they've got.

"It's also up to me and the coaches to go out and watch lots of amateur and under-21 matches in a bid to pick the cherries and hopefully help make them better players.

"That's one of the aspects of the job that I really enjoy. I always like my teams to be competitive but that means getting the right guys in the right positions.

"You watch a lot of matches but it's well worth it when you discover that little nugget."

Sinclair is hoping that his side can go one better in the new campaign and sustain their title challenge for a couple of extra months.

He said: "I always say that if you are in the top four after Christmas then you definitely have a chance, but we showed last season that you also have to maintain that into the final months.

"Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and keep it going right till the end next time.

"We have lost three players from last season but I'm still happy with the 15 that I re-signed. I'm also speaking to a handful of players at the moment and am hopeful that I can persuade them to sign for Larkhall."