MOSTLY, they come across as rather cool dudes, do Walter Smith and Gordon Strachan. Financially, they are pretty well heeled and it should be no other way, given that they manage the Old Firm clubs.

This is not a column that has any profound regard for the toils and the strifes of those who have to confront the challenges of organising players to win football matches, but events in the south over the past 24 hours have forced a rethink.

The outstanding Paul Jewell, having secured Premiership survival for Wigan, quit yesterday and Manchester City's Stuart Pearce was sacked but moments later.

Truly, you are left to wonder just what the owners and occupiers of football clubs expect from their major employees. Outwith the intensity of the rivalry at the top end of the England's leading division, nothing can quite match the struggle for supremacy within Glasgow which will become more apparent still when Strachan and Smith lace the gloves for next season's combat.

How do they cope? Well, ask your local psychologist.

Strachan, it seems, gets by on nervous energy and, obviously, a deep knowledge of the game. Smith is a more laid-back character, yet retains an intensity within his work that he will not allow to be dismantled. Although they do not speak openly of the pressures, they - like the rest of of us - remain vulnerable.

And they will have witnessed the happenings cross-border - and the abuse being hurled at Motherwell's Maurice Malpas - and perhaps wondered if the whole operation is worth the candle.

Basically, Jewell couldn't take more of the pressures he confronted on a daily basis as he attempted to keep a small town club in the elite division. He enjoyed massive support from the owner, Dave Whelan, who revealed the enormity of the workload.

He recognised his manager had fallen out with his wife and his family as a direct consequence of the job.

"I asked him if he had been tapped by another club and he said no. I believe that absolutely because he is smashing man and would never tell me a lie, just as I would never lie to him," he said.

Jewell attempted - rather well - to summarise the pressures managers face on a daily basis. "You look at the intensity of football at this level and they become addictive but very draining," he said.

There's no question this opiate of the masses has, at once, delivered massive wealth to the gaffers of the leading clubs in Britain and on the Continent, but at what price to their health, their minds, and their relationships?

Smith and Strachan are absolutely secure in their family bonds, which is just as well as they could not cope with the inherent demands without such support. Likewise, Sir Alex Ferguson, who - when troubles occasionally arise - takes comfort and solace from his wife Cathy's legendary chicken soup.

In a results-driven business which, increasingly, is attracting investors from the USA, the former Soviet Union, and even an ousted president of Thailand, the requirements for success will grow.

Those seeking opportunities within football are not principally concerned with the product. They are looking at the bottom line, the return on their whack.

Just as Pearce has become a victim of inordinate expectations within Manchester and Jewell requires time to smell the roses, so Strachan and Smith should be awarded a small period of respite.

Problem is, this is not about to happen because they will be busier re-organising their squads during the supposed close season than they have been on their workaday practices.

These are compelling jobs but not for your average cloth cap.