Once, footballers only had one simple question to answer when the season ended. Do you spend summer by the beach, or the pool? Not any longer. These days, players of a certain age spend less time worrying about whether they will be on the guest list for a night club in Vilamoura and more about if they are ready to move on to the A list in coaching.

For thirtysomethings in dressing-rooms up and down Britain, “doing your badges” has become as de rigueur as the ubiquitous black 4x4s that fill every club car park. As Paul Ince has just found out, there is no escape. Footballers who want to stay in the game when they stop playing have to go back to school and anyone caught skipping class will pay a heavy price.

The former England captain initially saw his hopes of becoming the new manager of Blackburn Rovers left in limbo by the revelation that he does not have a single coaching badge, despite being on his second managerial job at Milton Keynes Dons. The rules of the Premier League in England insist that all managers possess the Uefa Pro Licence, or at least be in the process of trying to obtain it — which is why he has been given the green light to take over at Ewood Park on the basis he gains his Pro Licence within two years, and that explains why he spent last Wednesday at Aberystwyth University watching a Uefa A Licence course, the precursor of the Pro Licence, run by the FA of Wales.

This week, another man who also captained his country will be adapting to an equally low-key setting. Neil Lennon won 40 caps for Northern Ireland before quitting in controversial circumstances in 2002 after receiving death threats. Now he will be just another man in a tracksuit at Stranmillis University College, the complex outside Belfast where the FA in Northern Ireland is running its annual coaching courses.

Lennon had training sessions at Stranmillis when he played for Northern Ireland’s schoolboy sides over two decades ago. Now, as he celebrates his 37th birthday this week, the Celtic coach and former captain finds himself as a pupil again. He may have recently hung up his boots after a playing career that lasted 19 years, but he knows that the Uefa A Licence he is now pursuing is as vital to his future as any tackle he made.

“These are Uefa rules, so we all have to do it,” Lennon, who played in the Premiership with Leicester City and won five titles in his seven years as a Celtic player, said. “I know that Gareth Southgate did not have his Pro Licence when he was offered the [Middlesbrough] job, but later took [the course], as did Glenn Roeder when he was at Newcastle United. The game is changing and we have to change with it. I can see why the other managers, who have worked their way up slowly, and taken time getting their coaching badges, would be annoyed if someone came and tried to get round the issue.

“However, there must also be some recognition given of the amount of time players at the top level put in, especially those who have been juggling international and club commitments. You don’t get a lot of free time to do coaching courses. Guys like myself and Paul Ince have been in the game at the top level for 20 years. The coaching badges are a guideline to the technical side of football, and I know a lot of old pros, like myself, think they are exempt from doing them — but we have to.

“There are a lot of experienced players who are put off from going into management because they feel that going to get their coaching badges belittles them, after what they have done. When you are playing, you have a split second to make a decision that is crucial on the pitch and we do it, but a lot of footballers find it hard to articulate what they are thinking. They are scared by the public aspect of it, doing a coaching session or putting on seminars.”

Lennon took his B Licence four years ago, along with his former Celtic colleague, Alan Thompson, but the pressures of playing prevented him from taking the next step. The Pro Licence requires 240 hours of study and a year to complete but Uefa’s club licensing scheme, which embraces every top league in Europe, will introduce a Continual Professional Development programme, which means that all licence holders, whether at A, B or Pro level, will require 15 hours of coaching study every three years just to keep their badges.

Lennon doubts that Martin O’Neill, the former Celtic manager and someone raised in the autocratic ways of Brian Clough, would have much truck with the modern methods. Yet, he still sees a need for “old-school” managers, too. “There are two sides to football management,” Lennon said. “Coaching and man-management. From what I have experienced, there are plenty of people who are great coaches but do not have the man-management to successfully run a side. And vice versa. Lots of managers do not want to be on the training ground every day, they prefer to be out of sight. However, they come alive on match days and that is when they earn their money.

“It’s a myth that Martin O’Neill [now at Aston Villa] did not attend training. He came down two or three times a week. He left the coaching and work on set-plays up to John Robertson and Steve Walford. That is why they were his assistants. You need a management team. Martin’s strength was in knowing his players. He focused on what we could do as a team and on studying the opposition and preparing you for everything. There are so many things required of a good coach, and making people feel good about themselves, as Martin did, is a knack in itself.”

However, no one can escape Uefa’s gaze any longer, which is why Ince has a problem. It is ironic that Ince and Lennon encountered each other last season, in Coca-Cola League Two, when the Celtic coach was playing for Wycombe Wanderers against MK Dons, and it now turns out that Lennon had more coaching qualifications than the man aspiring to be manager at Ewood Park.