‘I wish I’d asked the fella for a photo - he was a dead ringer for the old man from Up, with the flat head and glasses… I play it all the time when I’m out with mates in a pub’ Sean Dyche on magic, lookalikes and dancing

While football is a very serious game, in an industry worth billions of pounds, with livelihoods constantly at risk and the emotions of millions on the table, it’s good to know that even those at the top of the sport know how to have a laugh occasionally.

Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche has been around the block, with the 54-year-old turning out more than 500 times as a player before a managerial career which has seen him enjoy a decade-long stint at Burnley, plus spells at Watford, Everton and now at the City Ground.

And while his teams are often characterised as playing a no-nonsense brand of attritional football, Dyche clearly knows how to unwind and not take himself too seriously off the training ground pitch.

Sean Dyche on magic, dancing and lookalikes

One of the ways the former centre-backs likes to unwind is by the occasional magic trick.

“I’m not a magician by any means, but I do like sleight of hand tricks,” he admits to FourFourTwo. “Anyone who knows me will tell you I always do the napkin trick at dinner, where you make the napkin elevate

“My kids say, “Oh no” when I start, but there’s always someone at another table zooming in. The disappearing thumb is a favourite and I love the cigarette rolling across the table trick. Kids love that one!

And if you ever find yourself in the pub and spot Dyche from across the room, just be aware that he likes to play lookie-likies in the boozer.

“That started at Burnley during the Covid pandemic, when the staff and players would have Zoom meetings,” he says. “We started to say who people looked like and it just caught on.

“Now I play it all the time when I’m out with mates in a pub. My best one was when we were away in Durham. We must have been playing Middlesbrough or Sunderland, but at the bar there was a dead ringer for the old man from the animated film Up.

“There he was, the human version of that grumpy old bloke with the flat head and glasses. We were crying. I wish I’d asked the fella for a photo.

Another stape of a classic Dyche night out is his love to a dance. So what’s his favourite tune to get down to?

“Oh goodness me, there are so many,” he ponders. “Rui da Silva’s song Touch Me is a good one, and back in the day it would have been Voodoo Ray by A Guy Called Gerald – that was a big favourite in my raving days.

“I love doing all the dances for the banter – the oscillating sprinkler, the lawnmower, big box-little box, the typewriter, all of those. I used to dance a lot when I was into clubbing. Love it.”