David McKechnie talks to former Ireland international Chris Hughton, who is serving his fifth manager as first-team coach at Tottenham Hotspur

While most eyes at Tottenham this week were on an ageing German and a precocious Welshman, an impatient Irishman was working tirelessly in the shadows, biding his time. With Jürgen Klinsmann back in town for a charity match and Simon Davies making waves for his country, the progress of Stephen Carr, continuing his latest return in the reserves from long-term injury, went almost unnoticed. For Carr that means it could have gone no better.

Whether the Dubliner makes the first-team squad for tomorrow's Premiership match with Bolton, he will have seen that a small but significant change has taken place in his absence. A new player has arrived called Robbie Keane, bringing the number of Irishmen on the club's playing and coaching staff to nine. Not since Liam Brady and David O'Leary were hate figures at White Hart Lane has Ireland made such a splash in London football.

While Carr will soon join Keane as a mainstay of Glenn Hoddle's team, Gary Doherty continues his push for the regular place. Beneath him, Stephen Kelly, Paul O'Donoghue, George Snee and Mark Yeates face the challenge of trying to graduate from Irish youth internationals to the footballers they dream of becoming. The most they hope for now is that they will one day enjoy the coaching expertise of the club's former Irish international, Chris Hughton.

As coach to Hoddle's first team, along with the former England manager's number two, John Gorman, Hughton is one of the most influential figures at a club that is trying to put the farcical days of the past decade behind them. A decent start to the season has helped and Hughton is in a good position to gauge whether this is another false dawn in north London or a genuine renaissance. Recent form despite an injury crisis suggests the latter.

An articulate speaker who chooses his words carefully, Hughton has worked at Spurs for longer than it has taken Stephen Carr to reach his 26th birthday. He has spent all but three of his last 30 years as a Tottenham player and coach and is the only member of the coaching staff to have worked for the club's last five managers. A fully-trained lift engineer, he has managed to prosper through all the ups and downs.

It has taken more than personal popularity to keep him employed and Hughton has had to adapt to keep up with a game that has changed rapidly.

"I wouldn't be lying by saying that every time my manager went there was a period of apprehension, wondering what was going to happen," he says. "But I think because we had these changes, the club wanted some sort of stability in the coaching department.

"I certainly don't think I've worked any harder because of the thought of not being here and a new manager coming in and that I have to prove myself all over again.

"I think I've worked harder because of the changing face of the game."

Capped 53 times for Ireland and full back in Jack Charlton's team at the 1988 European Championship finals, Hughton earned his full English FA coaching badge even before he wore his boots for the final time in 1992. Along with Sunderland's new management team of Howard Wilkinson and Steve Coterill, as well as nine others, Hughton picked up UEFA's new and much-hyped pro-licence badge last year, establishing himself among the elite in English coaching circles.

"If I look at the actual coaching that we did on the badge itself, it wasn't as big a part as what people might think. What the new licence tries to do is incorporate other areas of management and other areas in the game; physiology, mental preparation, physiotherapy. It can't go into the type of depth that the specialists do, but it does give you an insight.

"Probably the most important thing about the course is it almost tries to reiterate to you that you've got to have a thirst for knowledge. What you can't afford to do is come in in the morning and not show an interest. So you speak to your physio every day and speak to your sports scientist every day. It's something you've got to try to be on top of."

While Hughton must share coaching duties with Gorman and Hoddle, a manager who rarely leaves his track-suit, it's a step up from the time when he was appointed assistant manager to Christian Gross for that ill-fated season in 1997. Gross did almost everything himself, including getting the club into a mess. As he struggled to communicate with the players, many would deride him and the way his only half-time instruction during a poor display was "relax".

What was a promotion for Hughton was therefore something of a poisoned chalice, although he honed his man-management skills while attempting to keep up the spirits of players. Gross's departure and the arrival of George Graham pushed Hughton back into reserve-team coaching, but his relationship with Hoddle from their playing days together at Spurs and his burgeoning reputation saw him promoted again when Graham was replaced.

"I always had a good relationship with Glenn. After it was announced that he would be coming, he rang me up and said that John would be coming with him. The system he used at Southampton was three coaches, himself, an assistant and a coach and he wanted to do the same here and he wanted me to be his first-team coach.

"Glenn's somebody who's on the training pitch every day and he's somebody who on lots of occasions likes to train himself. You always look at managers and coaches and you make assumptions about how bright they are, what they see at half-time, how they can change things.

"There are so many aspects to being a good manager, it's a complete package. The best managers are the ones who have the majority of that package. The manager's been here now for a year and six months and I certainly feel he is now asserting his ideas and authority and shape on the side and we're starting to see all the benefits of that.

"It had been a very frustrating period. I think the problems we've had at the club haven't helped at boardroom level. We are a very big club but the fact there are clubs that are consistently in the top four or five year after year is very frustrating.

When Gross left, Hughton was handed the job of caretaker-manager for a single game, an experience which helped sharpen his appetite for the job.

"If I look at my thirst for management it's always been there for sure. There's two ways you can apply for a manager's job. One is that you're not working, or else you're in a position that you want to go in a different direction. I think the fact that I've been very happy over the years has quenched it a little bit, but I think it's there and will always be there."

As the first black player to play for Ireland during an era in which racist taunting from opposing players and fans was de rigeur, Hughton has been taken by the recent outbreaks of racism at European grounds in the past few weeks. "Back then, people would say don't worry about it, that you've a chip on your shoulder or it's just a bit of fun. It was something you had to deal with yourself. Generally you got on with it and didn't bring it to anybody's attention. I got used to it. I didn't like it.

"There were periods of time when a game wouldn't go past when you weren't getting some sort of comments and racial abuse from an opposition player or certainly from a section of the crowd.

"It wasn't anywhere near the issue then that it is now. The big plus of what we're going through at the moment is that it's not being accepted by authorities and people in general."

Hughton qualified to play for Ireland through his Limerick-born mother, but although he maintains ties in Dublin, he rarely travels to see internationals.

Despite signing many Irish youths in the last decade, only Carr has so far made the grade at Spurs.

"We did go through a spell 10 years ago when we were taking quite a few of the Irish lads, but I think with the senior team doing so well and a resurgence of football at youth level, other clubs have seized on the opportunities."

As for his own four kids, Hughton's youngest, Cian, is playing full back for Tottenham's under-14s and has promised his dad that if the time comes and the opportunity arises, he will declare for Ireland. As with everything with the Hughtons, though, Spurs come first.

White Hart Lane's Irish brigade: The Tottenham nine

Chris Hughton: Glenn Hoddle's first-team coach won 53 caps for Ireland at full back. Has survived five managerial changes at the club in the past decade.

Theo Foley: The 65-year-old Dubliner coaches with the Tottenham reserves. Winner of nine Irish caps, Foley was George Graham's assistant during his glory years at Arsenal.

Stephen Carr: The club's player of the year before he underwent knee surgery early last year. Has been named at full back in the PFA's Premiership team of the season.

Robbie Keane: Recent £7 million arrival from Leeds, Keane's arrival is intended to invigorate an ageing front-line and produce goals.

Gary Doherty: Used at centre forward and centre back by Glenn Hoddle but yet to make a place his own in the first team.

Stephen Kelly: Impressed greatly at right back for Ireland in the recent under-18 European Championships in Norway. Also plays for Spurs at centre half.

Paul O'Donoghue: Second-generation under-19 central defender, tall and strong. Didn't make the squad for Norway, but features in the Spurs reserves.

George Snee: Another under-19 who didn't make the squad for Norway, Snee is a Dublin-born striker in the reserves. Also available for next year's World Youth Cup in the UAE.

Mark Yeates: Now eligible for Ireland's under-18s, this centre forward from Greenhills in Dublin has featured regularly for Tottenham's under-17s.