Martin O'Neill knew he had to get him in the door - which is why he went to extensive 'scouting' lengths to secure Chris Sutton for Celtic.
The pair are now both legends at Parkhead for their work in the early 2000s as part of the Hoops side which travelled to Seville for UEFA Cup final action. But Record Sport columnist Sutton arrived in Glasgow off the back of a difficult time at Chelsea, and the board wanted to know if their boss had witnessed the striker play. And a hilarious answer was formed for a man who went on to spend six years at the club and win eight major honours.
The 71-year-old insisted his credentials as a Premier League winner was all he needed to know and was eventually proven correct on his judgement. Sutton asked his former boss in a chat with The Daily Mail: "I heard when you suggested Celtic sign me, the board asked if you'd seen me play. You said, 'Yes, for Chelsea's Under 11s. He was head and shoulders above the rest.' The rest was history, wasn't it?"
And O'Neill replied: "You'd proved yourself! You won the league with Blackburn! I went to Manchester City, did I think the midfielders were better than me at City? Absolutely not.
"I'd won the league at Nottingham Forest. I'd done well at Norwich. But I couldn't settle at City. When I thought about you, I thought about myself."
Out of management since leaving Forest in 2019, O'Neill admits he was keen to manage former side Leicester City until the end of the season after Brendan Rodgers' sacking. But the call from the relegation-threatened Premier League side never came as the job went to Dean Smith.
He added: "I would have been delighted to have gone back, even for a short period. I wouldn't have been looking for anything. If they're in dire trouble, absolutely, I'd go back.
"But I don't put myself out there. No, they never spoke to me, I thought they might have called and it didn't materialise. But good luck! I genuinely like Leicester. It would be incredibly sad to see them go down."
