THE Telegraph and Argus must have taught him well.

They say ignorance is bliss and there is surely nowhere more gloriously unaware of the outside world than the sunbed I was glued to for a fortnight by the Red Sea.

But breaking my mobile ban for one night to check the house was still in one piece, I didn’t expect to see the first message to pop up came from Lee Bullock.

Obviously those journalistic skills honed from two seasons as the T&A’s player columnist – and still the best in my humble opinion – had sharpened his news values about the managerial appointment.

“Great result for you getting Stu back” was the comment. And there was my first official confirmation of Stuart McCall’s fourth coming at Valley Parade.

Mind you, it was hardly rivalling the Brexit vote in bolt-from-the-blue stakes.

I had spoken to the man himself just before nipping off on my jollies.

He was at the airport at the time about to jet away on a sunshine break of his own – a holiday that would be broken up halfway through by a whistle-stop return to West Yorkshire for his job interview.

We talked on the Friday afternoon that Phil Parkinson was unveiled in the Bolton hot-seat. Ironically I was sat in the press room at the Macron Stadium when the McCall call came.

A 20-minute chat proved a fruitful way of breaking up the two and a half hours we were waiting for Parkinson to emerge. Covering the bases with the leading candidates for City’s vacancy, I also interviewed Uwe Rosler during that time.

It wasn’t mentioned during our conversation but McCall’s CV had already been delivered to the club by that point. The guiding hand of Julian Rhodes, staying on for his final few weeks to smooth over the transition in the ownership, was clearly in his corner.

Breaking the story with that interview the following morning, the public reaction was mixed. The excitement at seeing such a hero figure potentially coming back once more tinged with a fear that a second stint in the hot-seat could fizzle out like the first.

One of the first emails I picked up yesterday highlighted that dilemma felt by some supporters.

“It is alarming how many Bradford fans love McCall to bits like me but are 100 per cent against him getting the job,” objected the writer, who saw his appointment as a ploy to boost season-ticket sales.

Whether his view is shared by more than just a vocal minority is hard to tell.

But with the warmness that accompanies the return of a man who bleeds claret and amber there is a wariness because of before.

But, as McCall was eager to point out from that first pre-emptive conversation, times change. The Stuart McCall of 2016 is a much different manager from the “rookie” who took the reins when City dropped into the basement division nine years ago.

He is a far, far more experienced gaffer now than the one who made a sad and emotional farewell from Valley Parade after a home defeat to Bury in February 2010.

With experience comes realism – on both sides of the fence. McCall’s slightly naïve optimism when he answered the managerial call that first time has been replaced by a hardened understanding of what the job entails.

For fans too, guarding against previous “Roy of the Rovers” expectations cannot be a bad thing. Just because the man in the dug-out is Bradford City through and through, there is no guarantee of three points every week.

But they know the emblem on his tracksuit is no badge of convenience. McCall is older, much wiser, but just as determined and enthusiastic for the task ahead.

Catching the briefest of words with him yesterday, he revealed how frantic life has been since he put pen to paper. That is not likely to change any time soon as he looks to rebuild a squad pretty thin in numbers at the outset of pre-season.

Nicky Law, his go-to signing, was the first “new” face through the door, followed yesterday by central defender Nathaniel Knight-Percival from Shrewsbury. There are plenty more to come.

Behind the scenes, there is also the bulk of a backroom staff to fill following the mass exodus with Parkinson across the Pennines.

But there is already a familiar buzz about McCall coming from that day-to-day (and sometimes late into the night) involvement at a club that cannot be replicated with the international set-up.

As he said before, a year out following his brief spell with Rangers served as a reminder of what he was missing with the part-time duties for Scotland.

He wanted to be mucking in with the players again on the training ground, not mucking out wife Tracey’s horses at the family stables.

Whether it turns out to be a thoroughbred season only time will tell but City and their supporters will be in no doubt that the new man at the helm is a real stayer.