Newcastle United and England legend Sir Bobby Robson was crucial in Andres Villas-Boas' move into coaching.
The Porto boss, 33, is now being linked with the top job at Chelsea.
And 17 years ago, it was Robson, as coach of Porto, who gave Villas-Boas his big break.
Then 16, Porto-mad Villas-Boas wrote to Robson raising his concerns about the benching of Domingos Paciencia and the UEFA Cup-winning coach responded by asking him to supply data to support his argument, says the Daily Mail.
He soon did. Back Villas-Boas sent a raft of statistics and arguments pinpointing why he was correct.
Robson was so impressed that he offered the Portuguese a trainee position with the youth team's coaching staff, and the rest is history, with Villas-Boas now in the Porto hot-seat and awaiting next week's Europa League final against Braga.
