Should Ian Burchnall lead Notts County a step closer to the Football League with victory against Grimsby Town on Monday night, then he will no doubt want to thank an unlikely source of intelligence.
Having embarked on a recent mission to go "undercover" at their play-off quarter-final opponents earlier this month, he learned more in a taxi than he did from watching their 1-0 win over Boreham Wood. "The goalkeeping coach Tom Weal and I came back on the last train and one of the guys who got on was a Grimsby fan living in Nottingham," explains Notts' head coach.
"He was a student but there was also a guy who looked a little worse for wear. Not long after the train took off, he has fallen and clearly hurt himself. The stewards had to ring an ambulance but there was a two-hour wait so they suggested the student, Tom and I all get a taxi back.
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"I told my wife that I was going behind enemy lines and said that if you don't hear from me, then I've been taken. But my battery died so this Grimsby fan actually lent me his charger. So I've ended up in a taxi with him all the way back to Nottingham, but I don't think he had a clue who I was.
"He was sat in the front so I was just asking him questions like how do you feel about your season and he was telling me all about their strengths and weaknesses. I said how do you feel about the playoffs? He said I'm happy to have County away because we've already beaten them once.
"I just said yeah, but they beat you away didn't they? He then said we were lucky! But he was saying how it was perfect for him because the game was on his doorstep and that he thought they could beat us. I was like do you think so? I'm not so sure. They play quite good football, don't they? So we're having a bit of back and forth. He didn't have a clue.
"When we got back to the train station, the poor kid had got like half-an-hour walk to get to his flat. We offered to give this Grimsby fan a lift and dropped him off at his home. It was a definite behind enemy lines mission and one I got some important intel from. I wonder if he'll sit in the stands and then look in the matchday programme and think my God, I've just told their gaffer a load of stuff about Grimsby. It was all very amusing."
Monday's game is heading for a huge five-figure crowd and it promises to be a fascinating showdown between two clubs who are craving a return to the Football League. For Notts, it will be their third attempt at trying to reclaim their status as the world's oldest professional league club after tumbling out of the EFL back in 2019 in a season that stripped the supporters of their pride.
Their last two attempts at making a swift return both ended in heartache after losing the final against Harrogate at Wembley in their first season in non-league, before crashing out in the semis this time last year. But there is hope that after finishing the league top of the form table that it bodes well for what the fans hope will end in promotion at West Ham's London Stadium on June 5.
"Everyone in the club wants this but like I say we're going to come up against teams that are like Grimsby that want to bounce back," Burchnall continues. "They had the disappointment of relegation last year and will be desperate to avenge that.
"If we get through this game, I'm pretty sure Wrexham and their fans who have been down there for a long, long time will feel the same. We are fighting against teams with the same desire as us but the players are really hungry to go up. We look at the league above and if we can get there, generate more crowds and play our style of football there, that's what we all want to achieve.
"I bumped into some fans the other day and I was talking to them. They haven't been season ticket holders for 20 years but bought their first this season, and have already renewed. "They are really enjoying the atmosphere, really enjoying the football so there is a buzz about it.
"I know people are so desperate to be out of this league and it's very challenging to get out of. But we shouldn't sidetrack away from there's a lot of good things happening. Of course, we want to go up, but there's a really good foundation.
"We should be proud of the way we play and the players that we've got. The way the club's being run, everything's right." Having guided Notts to fifth in the table and scoring a whopping 81 goals along the way, Burchnall's stock has risen considerably, a result of a team that plays a brand of attacking football that is both brave and stylish.
There have been justified concerns about their defensive qualities, but going forward they have been a delight. Kyle Wootton, Ruben Rodrigues and Callum Roberts are undoubtedly the poster boys having nearly scored 60 goals between them.
Scouts have flocked to Meadow Lane as a result with clubs from all three tiers in the EFL regularly checking in on their progress. Portsmouth look favourites to sign Wootton this summer with the striker out of contract, while Rotherham and Lincoln have checked in on Rodrigues.
You sense that this season will be make or break in keeping hold of their talent, but their manager has also courted plenty of attention. In this season alone he has been linked with Lincoln City, Peterborough United and Forest Green Rovers.
He has featured in the bookies' odds for all three jobs which is a testament to the work being carried out at Meadow Lane where a recruitment model that is based on data and statistics has yielded dividends. "I don't flick through the odds, but my mates will go 'oh look at you'," he jokes. "But they're probably putting a fiver down and changing it.
"I take a lot of it with a pinch of salt. But I think in football, people are talking about what's going on at Notts because of the way we play and the players we are developing. There's a lot of interest in them because they've improved massively on the pitch. It's a good thing that whether it's me, the players or the football club is being noticed and that people want to talk or write about it. That means that something right is happening. We know that we're on the right track and I think we're already starting to lift off in the way that we're doing things so, of course, the next step is to get out of the league."
