The festive season may be over but Alex Sykes is still a bit like a kid at Christmas.

That’s because he’s back in football as assistant manager to ex-Gloucester City boss Tim Harris at Redditch United, who today host Farnborough in the Premier Division of the Southern League.

Today’s game will be the first that 43-year-old Sykes has been involved in since parting company with Shortwood United in April and he can’t wait for the referee to blow his whistle at 3pm.

“It’s brilliant,” he said. “It’s been a really nice eight months away family-wise, but it’s great to be back, I’ve missed it.

“I’ve had a few good offers while I was out of the game but none that really fitted the bill.

“This was the right offer and the opportunity to work with Tim again was too good to turn down. He’s a long-standing friend.

“When I was a manager he always helped me out with players and gave me advice, he was a bit like a mentor. Pairing up with him was a no-brainer.”

Sykes, an attack-minded player back in the day, played for Harris when he was manager of both Gloucester and Forest Green Rovers.

And the fact that Farnborough are the opponents against whom Sykes is making his return to the dugout today adds that extra bit of spice.

“It was Farnborough who Gloucester beat to win promotion back to National Conference North in 2009,” recalled Sykes. “It was a play-off final at Farnborough and Matty Rose got the only goal. I scored 27 goals that season and Matty only got one, but he got the most important one!”

Sykes and Harris will settle for a similar scoreline today, of course, against 18th-placed opponents who are two points and three places beneath Redditch.

Redditch have been on a disappointing run – just one win in their last 14 league games – and their most recent outing saw them lose 5-2 at high-flying Hereford on New Year’s Day.

Sykes watched that game and he admitted: “There was a crowd of 3,000 there and it made me realise what I’d been missing. I know Hereford aren’t typical of the teams in the division but I knew I just wanted to get back involved.”

Sykes, who lives with his wife Emily and four-year-old daughter Charlotte in Warden Hill, Cheltenham, took his first Redditch training session on Thursday evening and it was like he had never been away from the game he loves.

“It went very well,” he said.

And if Redditch have wrapped up all three points come 5 o’clock this afternoon, that will be the perfect late Christmas present for both Sykes and Harris.