Mark Fotheringham was part of a coaching team at Cowdenbeath that was trying to save the club's professional football league status.
As he waited for a return to Germany, the 38-year-old's most recent job wasn't any easier, but it was certainly more high profile after he helped Hertha Berlin to survive.
Four years ago, Cowdenbeath avoided the drop in a nerve-shredding play-off. Life in the Germany's top flight is very different from nights of coaching.
He tells the radio station that he worked with guys who were on $50 a week. I went to Cowdenbeath because I wanted to put my heart and soul into it. You have to go right and left if you want to get there.
The Scots talk about Berlin bike rides, a challenging time in the German capital under the guidance of Felix Magath and what an uncertain future holds.
Fotheringham has spent a large part of his career working away from home and no challenge is greater than missing his wife and three young boys.
The Celtic youth product could not see much of the German capital because of his job.
He was able to take in his surroundings with "the boss" Magath, who won the 1980 Euros with West Germany as a player.
The fitness coach and I cycle to work. It's been great for my fitness, but at least I got to see the sights.
He's a legend here and every time you heard a car's horn, he was. He was getting stopped all the time if you stepped outside.
Fotheringham's love affair with German football began at the age of 19 when he was signed by Freiburg.
The relationship between him and Magath began six years later after an unsuccessful trial with the club.
With Magath's squad already high on numbers, a potential deal fell through, but the pair kept in close contact as Fotheringham returned home to finish his playing career.
Fotheringham's work on the training pitch highlighted his worth to the manager despite Magath's poor spell at Craven Cottage.
Fotheringham joined Thomas Oral's staff at lower-league German sides in addition to working under Magath at Hertha.
Fotheringham says that Magath has a brilliant presence. It is very hard to have that. I don't think that can be done easily. If you're born with it, he has it in abundance.
He was an elite footballer. He's a brilliant manager despite the fact that he has top players that struggle to coach. He has won as a player and a manager.
It's not possible to gift the trophies to someone. He has something special. He has a winning mindset. It's a pleasure working with him.
He did something that won't happen again in 100 years, but it just didn't work out at his new place of employment. You don't get the time when you're not winning games.
It was the most difficult task of Magath's 50-year career.
The turnover of coaching staff is one of the main issues at the club and Hertha decided not to extend Magath's contract.
What will happen to Fotheringham? It's no secret that the former Livingston and Ross County player wants to be a manager.
It depends on the club having the right structure in place, something he has learned to value in Germany.
Fotheringham wants to eventually show what he's learned back in his homeland.
He says he is destined to be a manager. One of the best in the world is teaching me. I would love to have this style in my house. If you had a good group willing to buy into it, you could be successful with it.
It would be difficult for me to return to a Scottish club. If the chance arose at the right club at the right time, I would look at all my options.
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