PAUL Lambert spent time shadowing the game’s top bosses and the watching world’s best teams at close quarters during a nine-month break which has left the new Blackburn Rovers manager feeling refreshed and raring to go.

Lambert cut a relaxed and engaging figure at his big Rovers unveiling yesterday, joking that since losing his job at Aston Villa in February that he has been busy topping up his tan and preparing for the latest series of I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

But in truth he made full use of his first extended spell out of the game since making his debut as a teenager for St Mirren by travelling to Germany and Spain in an effort to become an even better boss on his return to football.

Lambert had five days with reigning European champions Real Madrid, and their then manager Carlo Ancelotti, and he also headed to the country where he enjoyed his greatest success as a player.

In Germany he had five days with Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich and a week at his former club Borussia Dortmund with Jurgen Klopp before his move to Liverpool.

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Lambert, who won the Champions League with Dortmund before winning every domestic honour with Celtic, also enjoyed time at Bundesliga new boys Ingolstadt and, most recently, Bayer Leverkusen, where he was last week when the call came from Rovers owners Venky’s.

“I’ve been off for nine months and it’s probably been the best thing to happen to me,” said the former Scotland international, who did his coaching badges with Klopp in Germany and who used to play with Bayern’s sporting director Matthias Sammer at Dortmund.

“I’ve been away to a lot of places and watched a lot of great teams train, and watched teams all over Europe, but it’s the time to get back in. I feel better for myself and refreshed is the exact word.

“I’ve been at Real Madrid, watching them train; I’m just back from watching Bayer Leverkusen train; Dortmund, I was there when Jurgen was in Dortmund, and I was at Bayern Munich watching them, and Ingolstadt, too.

“And it’s been great because all the managers have been excellent. I’ve learned different things that I might implement here and I took a lot away from it. You go to these sort of places and you want to learn, and want to see things.

“Plus, as I say, for my own sanity, it’s been good.

“When you’re a manager you tend to become embroiled in tunnel vision, and when you step out of it, you see the bigger picture about what can happen.”

Lambert went straight into management, with Livingston, before his playing career came to a close.

He then went on to take charge of Wycombe Wanderers, Colchester United, Norwich City, where he won back-to-back promotions, and then Villa.

And Lambert said: “Nine months out was a long time but probably the most productive nine months I’ve had in football.”