It was 2008 when Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey first stepped on the field as teenagers, both handed their Premier League debut by Arsene Wenger as late replacers in Arsenal's 4-0 victory over Blackburn.
The couple played together more than 100 times before their last joint 10 years later, while the Gunners crashed from the semi-finals of the Europa League against Atletico Madrid.
Now, today, those two old friends will face each other in the dugout and show off everything they have learned on the way, while they meet on the last day of the championship season in their early companies in the management of the first team.
Ramsey took the caretaker of Cardiff for the last three games of the campaign after the Omer Riza fire, but could not prevent the Bluebirds from being banned last weekend after a scoreless draw with West Brom.
In the meantime, Wilshere received the interim governments after the resignation of Johannes Hoff Thorup in Norwich and is considered the leader that she permanently handed over in the summer on a permanent basis.
Although it is the earliest days in their fast -growing coaching career, you can already see – and hear – how much they were influenced by those who came to them.
“What Arsene has installed in us is having that freedom to express ourselves,” said Ramsey, whose early reports were less about tactics and more about surviving his principles and customs.
Ramsey, who took the lead with best extent and formerly flat mate Chris Gunter, struggled to sleep for his first game, against Oxford, so were the nerves of leading the club where he joined at the age of eight and whose training area he was driving as a teenager in a Ford Fiesta before he moved to Arsenal in 2008.
He chewed the ear of Craig Bellamy. The Wales boss has been an important sounding board for Ramsey, and vice versa, where Bellamy often used him in tactical discussions about international duty. Ramsey often visited Bellamy in Wales' Dragon Park Home.
The 34-year-old Ramsey, who grew up not far on the road in Caerphilly, returned to the club in the summer of 2023 with the hope of bringing them back to the Premier League.
Instead, he suffered relegation in only his second game as a manager. Just a few hours later, a tearful Ramsey gave a speech during the end of the club. One day Ramsey wants to become a full -time coach, but still wants to keep playing after his contract with Cardiff in the summer.
He was not the only one to hot it of an early game that was in charge. Wilshere ran the London Marathon less than 24 hours after his first match, a scoreless draw with Middlesbrough. Wilshere ran to raise money for the British Heart Foundation After his daughter, Siena, needed an operation to repair a hole in her heart when he was five years old.
His debut matchday as head coach was a warm-up 3 km marathon for his first team conversation. He also spoke about the energy, the hunger and the desire to win your duels, while he 'the basis that a football player needs'.
It was per Mertesacker who brought a chance to Wilshere, felt low after calling time on his match days and appointed him in Arsenal's Academy Staff. Wilshere would later lead the less than 18 years to the FA Youth Cup final in two years.
Parents loved him, not only because of the star point to say that they talked to an Arsenal legend about the progress of their son, but also for how open he was.
One told E -mail Sport how Wilshere called their son on the same evening after competitions to explain why he was falling, so that he would not stew it at night.
In Norwich there was more music on Norwich's training ground than before. Blue Monday by New Order has radiated the dressing room from Boro's Riverside Stadium.
Wilshire encouraged Pete Dye, the Norwich Kitman, to give the last speech before the players walked for the game.
Wilshere not only has Wenger to take off, but Mikel Arteta, David Moyes and Eddie Howe. He takes something from everyone.
“From Arsene I try the way he was as a leader and man manager and the conviction he gave me,” Wilshere told Mail Sport in March.
'When I think of Eddie Howe, I think about really, really in the development of the individual. I saw Mikel Coach, and how passionate he was about developing the individual and developing a playing style and coaching every moment, it really inspired me. '
Now it is Wilshere and Ramsey's turn to inspire the next generation.