MARTIN Carruthers will be keeping tabs on tomorrow’s clash between two of his former sides at Roots Hall.

But his main focus will be on continuing Basford United’s own push for promotion.

Carruthers, who bagged 29 goals in 83 games for Blues, bosses the Midland Football League Premier Division side.

And he has taken them up to third in the standings.

“When I was a player I never ever thought about becoming a manager if I’m honest but I definitely enjoy doing it,” said Carruthers, 42.

“When I retired from playing I had a hectic couple of years getting qualifications and coaching badges to help me in the next stage of my life.

“I ended up at Basford which is great and I’m learning all the time.

“But my dream is definitely to return to full time, professional football.

“That’s what I’m working towards and would be happy to take any role, even if it was coaching the youth team or being an analyst.”

However, Carruthers currently combines his management role at Basford with working in the education department at Notts County.

The former striker has worked with the League One side for the past seven years.

And it is another position he thoroughly enjoys.

“The education side of things is very important in football now and I’m responsible for around 100 pupils which is great,” said Carruthers.

“I got a foundation degree in sports and exercise and then also passed a teaching qualification.

“What I do here is similar to the programmes Southend run with the Futsal teams and everything like it and it’s very enjoyable indeed.”

Carruthers is also to excel in both of his roles due to the success of his own playing career which saw him play for 12 clubs across 20 years, playing more than 500 matches and scoring more than 130 goals.

Carruthers bagged 29 of them during an 18 month spell with Southend that he looks back on with great fondness.

“I have many happy memories from my time at Southend,” said Carruthers, who now lives in Nottingham.

“It was a fantastic place to be and we had a really good group of lads. Unfortunately due to certain circumstances we could never really go on and achieve what that team could’ve done.

“And I remember us also being quite unlucky.

“The way the team played suited my style and the goals flowed for me quite well.

“I got 19 in my first season which was good but I just couldn’t do enough to break the elusive 20 goal barrier.”

Carruthers followed up his first season by scoring another 10 towards the start of his second campaign.

But by then David Webb had replaced Alan Little in charge and the club were forced to cut down their wages, which played a part in Carruthers joining Scunthorpe United in March 2001.

“It was a combination of things to be honest which led to me leaving,” recalled Carruthers.

“I knew the club were looking to cut down their wages but I was also about to become a father for the first time and was ideally looking for a move to be nearer to home.

“If the situation had been different then I would’ve loved to stay for longer but the ways things were on and off the pitch meant I had to leave.

“However, I made some great friends down there and I still come back to Southend every now and then to visit them.”

Carruthers also stays in touch with a number of former Shrimpers team-mates, including Nathan Jones, Simon Coleman, Mark Prudhoe and Martyn Booty.

And he also keeps tabs on how Phil Brown’s side performing.

“I always look out for Southend’s results and see how they are getting on,” said Carruthers.

“I’ll certainly be having a look on Saturday because they’re playing another of my former teams in York.

“But I know Southend are in the play-off positions at the moment and I really hope they go to get promotion this season.”