Roger Hughes is an experienced and well-respected freelance reporter and broadcaster having spent over 20 years working for the BBC.

Now a regular at the Liberty Stadium covering the Swans for the likes of talkSPORT Radio, Roger caught up with boss Paulo Sousa for this special feature.

Swansea City manager Paulo Sousa is a believer. He believes in God and the Catholic religion, but he also believes in himself and his own ability.

Sousa calls himself special, but you sense talking and listening to him that it's a different breed of special to his good friend and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

We won`t see Sousa in front of the television cameras in an overcoat which probably cost a mint but looks like it was purchased from the local charity shop. He won't appear as if he's just got out of bed and not had time to scrape the razor across his stubble for at least two days. Sousa is smartly presented; he sets a standard.

Having played 51 times for Portugal, represented some of Europe's greatest football clubs and worked under some of the best known names in European football, the 39 year-old believes it's the experience he has gained and which he can now impart to his players which makes him special.

Paulo Manuel Carvalho Sousa was born in Viseu in Northern Portugal, which when he came into the World in August 1970 was a small town which has now come under the influence of the developers.

His parents were hard workers. His father was a motor mechanic, his mother a dress maker.

"I am very close to them," says Sousa. "They were hard working. They would leave home as early as 5.30 in the morning and not return before dinner."

In his early days Sousa would help his father cultivate the plot of land where they grew food.

"I was a very shy kid, but always trying to find a way to know everything. I was curious about everything. I had a lot of friends in the area where I lived," he continued. "We played football everywhere, often in the roads and the streets and when a car came along we had to stop it. I learnt a lot from that."

The young Sousa was not necessarily born to be a footballer, but having caught the bug and realised that he was good at it, he wanted to become of the best. He certainly did that.

From the roads and streets of Viseu, his journey was to take him across Europe and he became a member of Portugal's Golden Generation.

"Something in my destiny. It is what the life give me," he reflects in his broken but very acceptable English. "Everyone said I had a lot of talent. I spent many times with a plastic ball. I started to play with a club when I was 14 years old, and then at 15 I played with Benfica."

Lisbon, where Benfica are based, is about 300 kilometers from Viseu. Today that journey takes about two and a half to three hours. In the mid 80`s before road improvements the journey was more like six. For someone so attached to his family and friends it was a long way from home.

The first year in Lisbon was difficult for the 15 year-old Paulo.

"It was very difficult in my first year regarding my emotional balance. When you leave your family, your friends, school, everything, it is something which changes your mentality.

"Lisbon was a big city, you need to adapt and, having been close to the concept of the family, I suffered a lot."

Listening and talking to the man now, it is not difficult to realise how the pain that wrench from his home and family was felt by the teenager. He is emotional in his speech and his actions.

He almost left Benfica in that first year, but is quoted as saying that his decision not to leave was his first great decision. Sousa established himself as a defensive midfield player, and during his time at the club he was to be part of the Portugal squad which won the FIFA World Youth championships, and made his full international debut against deadly rivals Spain.

Eighty seven times he played for Benfica before moving to the other Lisbon club, Sporting, where he spent one season. Next came a move to Italian giants Juventus and during his two years in the country, Sousa gulped in the language and the culture.

"It is very important when you play or have a job out of your country to speak the language," he adds. "It is the most important thing in life to communicate and when you communicate well with someone you can make friendships and relationships, and you can understand better the culture and you can adapt better to the country."

The culmination of the now seasoned Portugal internationals time at Juventus came when the club was crowned European champions. His last act was to lift the European Cup before moving to Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

"When I left to play with Dortmund I started to read so that I didn't lose my Italian. I started to read Italian books and to increase my vocabulary. This is one of my hobbies to read important books and to improve myself as a person and a manager."

As a player he had other interests as well away from the football field.

He recalled: "As a player I loved to play snooker. It was one of my hobbies in that time. I played cards with friends, and I spent lots of hours seeing games about important players to understand them and take from them something that can help me build my game."

Sousa was now at his peak as a player. He won the European cup again with Borussia, so was part of a European Championship side in successive seasons with two different clubs. Fame accompanied him, but he says he dealt with it as he deals with it today.

"Everyday it is an important place to grow and for that we need to be focused in everything around us. At a young age it is easy to lose the focus, but I was very determined to achieve a good level as a professional footballer. From the moment I left home I put in my mind that I want to be the best professional footballer I can. For that you need to be dedicated and be focused on everything which happens around you."

During his time at Borussia, Sousa started to pick up injuries which were to plague him for the remainder of his career. He finished with spells in Greece and Spain before hanging up his boots in 2002 and embarking on a managerial career which would take him from the Portugal Under-15 side, assistant manager of the full national side to his latest appointment, Swansea City.

"When I worked with the Portugal FA I met with a lot of international and club managers and you make questions on their methods of training and the qualities of leadership," he recalled.

One of Sousa`s previous contacts was the current England manager Fabio Capello who recommended him to the co-owner of Queens Park Rangers, Flavio Briatore.

Sousa was appointed manager in November last year. His tenure was a short one even by football managerial standards. Just 26 games before he was sacked. Not because of poor results, but because: "He divulged sensitive information without permission from the hierarchy at the club."

The sensitive information was that a player had been loaned out without his permission. Sousa's dismissal is currently in the hands of his solicitors and he is reluctant to discuss his time at Loftus Road.

He did say: "What hurts is the lack of respect (shown by some of the board), this is what hurts. My family taught me to respect the person in front of me and this is what I do all my life, respect everyone. When they don't respect me I fight for respect for myself. The past is the past I do not want to touch these questions. I don't care anymore about this. I don't want to touch the past. I am one hundred percent with this club (Swansea)."

Sousa now has another love in his life. Apart from his wife and daughter, the new Swansea manager admitted he has a new love affair with the city of Swansea and it's football club.

"I love the club and I love the city;" he said. "The way they introduced themselves, especially the chairman and the people around him, their way of thinking is like mine. When you go to some new place you can feel a feeling, and I feel this about the city and the club.

"From the first moment when I spoke to the Chairman (Huw Jenkins) by phone we started to get a good feeling about each other. And then when I came everything became clear from his side and from my side. This is the best way to start a good relationship.

"The Latin culture is very passionate, but it is not enough. We need to be rational. Everything we need to do is not only with the heart, but with our heads and our minds. It is important to have vision and to create philosophy to build an identity as a team. I know what to do and I know how to do it. I have the knowledge.

"We talk in the club about my ideas and everyone has tried to help me and support me to put all my knowledge into achieving this success. I do not feel so much pressure. I am very confident in myself."

Paulo Sousa is confident of that there is no doubt. It might be easy to confuse his confidence for arrogance. That would be a mistake. He is also grateful for the skills God has given him and how those have shaped his life.

"Life has given me the opportunity to play football, to get money and to get success. I am always proud to be part of football, at the moment as a manager, but more than a manager as a person. I give all of my knowledge to everyone because I am like that. In that way I feel very, very special."