Stuart McCall is back in management – and the venue should come as absolutely no surprise.

For the man with claret and amber coursing through his veins, it was the obvious alternative to Valley Parade.

Motherwell are, after all, the only other club in Britain who wear the same distinctive colours.

Eleven months on from his emotional exit, McCall has found another hot-seat. For such a keen lover of statistics, he is no longer one of the 40 per cent of first-time managers who never find subsequent employment.

True to form, he was at two games on the day that his appointment was confirmed.

Hours before watching his new side put up a decent fight at Celtic, he was checking out today’s opponents Hamilton.

That is the McCall that City fans will recognise; the manager who throws his heart and soul into the job.

McCall never knew any other way as a player; unfortunately, his full-on approach from the City dug-out never brought the same success that he and the supporters who worshipped him craved.

But he must have wondered if an opportunity would come knocking again.

When I last sat down for a good chat with him in early November, you could see that something was missing.

McCall was as relaxed and cheerful as ever. He was watching games for fun – but that was it.

Watching teams and players on behalf of Norwich and their former Rangers scout Evan Chester was an easy job without any stress or hassle. But it wasn’t close to the same buzz he felt from direct involvement on the touchline.

Like so many out-of-work managers, McCall was clearly missing the day-to-day involvement and banter of the dressing room. The detached air of a seat in the directors’ box with a pen and a note pad wouldn’t come close. And yet, at that point in time, he had no options lined up.

When I asked him about applying for other jobs, he insisted that he had not put in a single application.

Not keen to move the family from their Harrogate roots, McCall had set himself strict geographical parameters. But even when situations arose within those boundaries, he still resisted the urge to fire off a CV.

He was reluctant to drop into non-league, admitting that a lack of knowledge of life in the basement division had held him back when he first took the Bantams reins. The Blue Square Premier would be similarly unchartered territory and well out of his comfort zone.

But for a manager who had not succeeded in League Two, that severely limited his options. In the cold light of day, his record would not entice many – or any – offers from above.

I imagined his most likely route back in would be as a number two or member of the coaching staff – a role he performed so well under Neil Warnock at Bramall Lane.

Scotland, though, always remained an enticing option for someone so passionate to the national cause during his hugely successful time with Rangers.

And McCall’s stubbornness at refusing to chase other openings was rewarded when the Motherwell job became available.

Julian Rhodes, the man who brought him to City in 2007, texted him the moment he found out the news.

“I think it’s a brilliant move for him,” said City’s co-chairman. “The year he’s had out will have done him the world of good.

“You can’t get away from the fact that his time as Bradford manager did have a negative impact on Stuart.

“I expect the job was a lot harder than he thought it would be and the pressure associated with it a lot more than when he was a player. It was a real baptism of fire.

“But I’ll always have a lot of time for Stuart and I’m sure everyone associated with Bradford City will feel the same.

“His work ethic has always been very good and I would like to think in life that the harder you work the more successful you will become.

“You can’t keep a good man down.”