Scaffolder's son Mark Fotheringham aims to build a successful Huddersfield Town once again

This week, Huddersfield Town's new head coach has been back in his element, his preserve, on the grass at club's Canalside training ground.

His players already know a fair bit about his ways. In the first three days of his tenure, there were five training sessions.

Football is work and the Scot is very intense about it. Hard work and graft comes natural to a lad who grew up on a council estate in the Dundee suburb of Charleston.

His family have a scaffolding business. Working on a scaffold in the cold, wind and rain of eastern Scotland can be tough at times.

Organising footballers on a chilly autumn day is living the dream in comparison.

Fotheringham, who takes charge of Town for the first time at Reading on Saturday, said: "My father is a scaffolder and my big brother is as well and both of them have got their own business. They have got workers up there and the guys are all really proud I am in this situation.

"They have always supported me from when I have been in football from a young age. When I have been in and out of football, I have always be around them to help them.

“To be honest, my dad and brother argue like typical family day and night. We all know how it goes. People say 'why is your old man so relaxed with you?' And I joke: 'That's because I am 'The Special One!'

"My mum is a wee Scottish lady who works in (Dundee's) Ninewells Hospital in the laundry (department). She gets embarrassed when the people talk to her about his son and the football and all that because she is a very humble lady and that's the type of family I come from."

References to the construction industry occasionally slipped out in Fotheringham's engaging first press conference on Friday. He spoke of his team having a defensive 'scaffolding' for instance.

In his world, daily work is likely to be long and painstaking, but hopefully rewarding.

Fotheringham is likely to be around the training ground in most working hours. When he is not, he will make it his business to integrate himself fully into life in West Yorkshire.

He added: "This (being in football) is the best job in the world, no ifs or buts. I feel this group all appreciate it so much and they are utilising the staff and everything on offer at the training centre. Because it is like a paradise and one of the best in England at the moment and it is all credit to Dean and Janet (Hoyle) for putting their effort and passion into this club.”

"I am going to be about this place and you are not going to get rid of me! Whether you see me taking my three sons to McDonald's or whatever. It is just the way it is going to be.

"I am going to immerse myself into the town and be about the people as it's important that they identify with me.

"At Berlin, me, Felix (Magath) and Werner (Gegenbauer - ex-president) used to cycle in every day to training, so I have asked Leigh (Bromby) to order me a bike. It's not too big a town and I could do with losing a kilo or two as well.."

Fotheringham has not breezed into Huddersfield, but come in with the power of a whirlwind.

He will be 24/7 in his quest to turn around the club's fortunes and pen another memorable story in his career, like those at his previous two clubs in Germany where he worked as assistant manager at Hertha Berlin and Ingolstadt.

Special times arrived at Hertha in their stunning 'Great Escape' from relegation last season. He has a promotion on his CV at Ingolstadt.

It's abut collective and individual gain, a two-way street. He has made no secret about the fact that his ambition is to one day manage on his own in both the Bundesliga and Premier League for instance.

He is driven in that regard and wants his players to be as well. You suspect that those who do not might not last very long.

He continued: "It is going to be enjoyable, but intense. I am not the player’s friend and I am here to work them and make them better.

"I am a guy who wants them to be sitting, in a few years’ time, in the Premier League whether at Huddersfield Town or the big clubs in England.

"I was always building relationships with the young guys in Germany. I want them to do well for their families. When I signed here, my phone exploded with messages from young German players.

"They are proud for me, but I am proud for them that they are sitting and playing for the Hamburg's or the Berlin's as they have worked so hard to get there.”