Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree insists coaching is a constant learning process – and has also opened up on the difficulty of losing your job, acknowledging “it’s not a nice place to be”.

Three Premiership clubs have opted to make a dugout change this season with Ballymena United following Larne and Glenavon after appointing Oran Kearney as Jim Ervin’s successor last weekend.

While McAree has established a reputation as one of the Irish League’s top coaches and masterminded an unprecedented period of success at boyhood club Dungannon, he’s also had to deal with difficult moments.

His reign at Coleraine lasted less than nine months after missing out on European qualification during the 2018/19 season and pressure has only continued to ramp up on managers as expectations increase across Northern Ireland.

placeholder image — Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree. (Photo by Andrew McCarroll/Pacemaker Press)

Previous experiences mean McAree has empathy for managerial colleagues who lose their jobs – like Ervin, who was in charge of Ballymena for two-and-a-half years and replaced around eight months after signing a new three-year contract.

“I've been on the end of that phone call or that conversation,” he said. “It's not a nice place to be.

"I think it was a little bit hasty (to let Ervin go) but it's up to the powers-that-be to make that decision. I was disappointed to see Jim go out of the game for the time being.

"It's one where you'll enjoy the break initially, you'll get away from the madness, but it builds up a little bit of hunger and you'll want another opportunity...if you get that opportunity then you'll do things a little bit differently than what you did before.

"You always try to learn and you always will learn, to be honest. I'll always go away from every game that we play and I'll assess myself and what we have done, what I've decided to do, what I've picked, changes I've made, different bits and try to learn from it.

"When you don't try to keep learning, you'll struggle.”