Friday 8 January 2016 17:19, UK
Alan Curtis soon turned his 'manager mode' on after being handed the responsibility of keeping Swansea City in the Premier League.
Curtis had been in caretaker charge at the Liberty Stadium since the departure of Garry Monk in December, and it was confirmed on Thursday that he would continue for the rest of the season.
The 61-year-old has been with the club for 40 years as a player and coach and, although he admits he never expected to get the job, he soon switched his focus to keeping the club in the Premier League.
Swansea sit only two points above the bottom three with 18 games remaining, but Curtis first has an FA Cup date to look forward to, with a tricky trip to League 2 promotion chasers Oxford United coming up on Sunday.
"I've never really seen myself as a manager but you can quickly change that mindset," Curtis said ahead of the trip to the Kassam Stadium.
"When you get given an opportunity to make sure the club stays in the Premier League you quite quickly switch into manager mode.
"I've never really aspired to be a manager, especially in the Premier League, but we'll see how this period goes.
"The most important thing is that we retain our Premier League status. That's all my concentration is on at the moment, these last 18 games. It's a huge responsibility, but I could never have turned it down."
Curtis has been pleased with the response of Swansea's players since he took over from Monk, and their recent performances have given him confidence they can retain their top-flight status.
"With the quality we've got, I'm really confident we'll be OK," he added. "There'll be a fine if they call me boss! It's banned from the training ground.
"I'm determined not to change my nature, and I will do it as I see fit. A lot of it is just finding your feet and just running with it.
"It's a new experience for me and for the players to have me as their manager, but there's certainly been a great response in training as well as in games.
"We've got good players, I think we're capable and we've shown our capabilities in the last few games. The two defeats have been to teams (Manchester City and Manchester United) chasing Champions League football.
"We know what we have to do, it's going to be a slog from now till the end of the season."
