The delivery comes quickly. No time for thought. It is obviously something he has thought about before.

How does Brian Barwick look back on his four years as chief executive of the Football Association?

"It was the most exhilarating, exciting, problematic, wonderful experience I will ever have in my working life."

Officially, Barwick has been back in civvy street for just over 10 months.

Unofficially, it is more like 12 or 13 as he was effectively a dead man walking once Lord Triesman got his claws out, triggering a phased withdrawal that ultimately saw another senior Whitehall official, Ian Watmore installed instead.

Life is busy too. In demand as an advisor and media consultant and recently appointed chairman of Cheshire-based soccer development firm, Kickworldwide and also a professor at Liverpool University.

But, with distance established and no lingering desire to turn back the clock, Barwick, who was asked to steady the ship following Mark Palios' resignation and the Fariagate scandal, feels it is time to shed some light on the toughest of jobs.

"It will always remain with me," Barwick told Press Association Sport.

"Wherever I go, people come up to me and talk to me about it. They are polite these days too. They were less polite when I was doing it.

"I am a football lover. For me it was a remarkable opportunity.

"It will always be a job that throws up the occasional curved ball but I don't regret doing it, not at all."

Those curved balls are a bit like one of Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kicks. You know what's coming. On occasion, you might even know where it is going to go. Doing something about it is a different matter.

The list is fairly exhaustive. Move into Wembley. Tick. Move into Burton. Cross. Appoint England coach. Cross. Appoint another England coach. Tick. Launch Respect campaign to get greater standards of behaviour towards referees. Tick. Negotiate increased TV contract. Tick, and then, Cross.

In fairness to Barwick, gaining a consensus among such a disparate group for the Burton training centre would have been beyond anyone.

Managers can see the sense in it, most football people would commit to it. But, having spent millions on their own academies, clubs question why more money should be spent on a central project. Pythagoras would have struggled to square that circle.

The TV contract is another intractable.

It could be argued Barwick - a former high-ranking executive with both BBC and ITV - should have questioned Setanta's business model and avoided it.

Yet it was Setanta's failure to secure a second Premier League package six months after their deal with the FA had begun, that killed the Ireland-based broadcaster.

Nevertheless, it is a source of regret for Barwick, even if he feels the eventual damage will be nothing like the £90million "black hole" that is so often mentioned.

"I am obviously out of the loop now but I am hopeful that the rights that are back on the market will find a good broadcast home," he said.

"Live football is live drama with a different ending every time. It pulls viewers in.

"It is still one of the great ways people are drawn to their TV set."

Appointing the England manager is another unique task. A very public undertaking, where 56 million people have their own opinion.

History will judge Steve McClaren to be a disaster, Fabio Capello a success.

Yet Barwick's own strength of character came through during McClaren's tenure.

Picture the scene, 10,000 angry England fans, baying for the manager's blood after a goalless first-half against Andorra in Barcelona.

England still win but the mood is mutinous; the worst abuse ever heaped on the national team boss. At that point, Barwick might well have taken the easy option.

Ultimately, McClaren failed. But he can never deny being given every opportunity to succeed.

"Everybody is entitled to see out what they started," said Barwick.

"Nobody is more pleased than me that Steve has rehabilitated himself so well in Holland.

"I am not one of those people who will attack him. He gave it his best shot. He understands he did not quite deliver.

"But not qualifying for Euro 2008 left us in a mess. We had to get out of it.

"It was the moment I earned my living. I felt that the organisation needed some strong leadership and during that period I was able to deliver it."

Abuse brings us to Respect; Barwick's signature works.

The scenario is set now. Referee gets decision wrong, big-name manager attacks referee, Respect gets tarnished, to the extent that the word itself is undermined.

Barwick has seen a lot of football. His passion has not diminished because he is no longer in the top administrative job. He views the situation somewhat differently.

"Respect was never going to be a short-term fix," he said.

"It was not originally aimed at the top of the game. Forty-seven thousand people were asked what needed to be improved. Reducing the verbal abuse of referees was number one by a distance.

"We had to start somewhere. Just because there is an incident every six weeks does not mean the Respect campaign is in tatters.

"Behaviour in local and youth football has improved considerably.

"That is not the end game but it is a move in the right direction."

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