Darlington manager Steve Staunton is heading for a trip down memory lane this weekend, starting with today's trip to Bradford City.
As a teenager working his way through the ranks at Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish sent the defender on loan to the West Yorkshire club, where he made his first-team debut in 1987-88.
But it was with Aston Villa that his career highlight came with the 3-1 League Cup win at Wembley over Manchester United.
So tomorrow Staunton will be in the stands at the national stadium hoping to see his former club again beat Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
That Wembley final came seven years after his bow at Bradford, and his experience at Valley Parade is one he looks back on fondly.
It was different from Liverpool but a fantastic learning curve, he said. I went into a very good Bradford City team that were top of the old second division.
They had Stuart McCall, John Hendrie and Ron Futcher.
I'd had a great grounding at Liverpool. The will to win was the same in the youth team football as it was in the first team at Anfield. You hated losing and hated Mondays if you lost.
The big difference at Bradford was that you were playing to keep people in jobs. The understanding that if you have a couple of defeats then people's livelihoods are at stake was an eye opener.
I went back to Liverpool with that behind me and it stood me in great stead.
But Liverpool gave me a great grounding because they had their feet firmly on the ground when I was there.
In the same side as Staunton in 1994 was Quakers' assistant manager Kevin Richardson, who captained Villa, and he also lifted the League Cup two years later under former Darlington manager Brian Little.
Staunton won First Division and the FA Cup winners' medals while with Liverpool.
Yet he maintains that first victory, thanks to goals from Dalian Atkinson and a brace from Dean Saunders, remains the pinnacle of his playing career.
He said: Beating United was a great highlight of my club career. We were fighting relegation and they were going for the treble. Villa was like that, cycles when we'd have a good couple of years then a shocker.
It's a different situation now where Martin O'Neill has brought some stability and they are progressing nicely each season. Some clubs seem to want success yesterday and try to build too quickly. Fair play to Martin he improves them bit by bit every year and for me that is the way to go about your business.
To be honest I didn't think I would play because I'd just recovered from a double hernia operation. I had only returned to training about ten days prior to the final.
About ten minutes from the end of the game my hamstrings had cramped up and I could hardly walk. Andrei Kanchelskis had run me inside out and I was subbed.
As I sat down on the bench United scored. Big Ron turned to me and said: If we lose this game I'll bloody kill you.' Once Dean Saunders scored to make it 3-1 that was it, pure joy, and I will be supporting them from the stands on Sunday.
But today Staunton will be in the dug-out at Bradford aiming to atone for last weekend's collapse that cost Quakers victory over Chesterfield.
Although his side conceded three late goals to lose 3-2, Staunton was pleased with his players' performance for the first 80 minutes so is unlikely to make wholesale changes.
His line-up will depend on whether or not centre-backs Ian Miller and Richie Byrne can shake off knocks, while midfielder Gareth Waite has a minor problem.
Despite persistent rain yesterday, Bradford say they are confident of the game going ahead. As a precaution, rain covers have been placed on parts of the pitch.
Source: Northern Echo
