Arne Slot is 90 minutes away from leading Liverpool to a record-similar 20th title-in his debut season as Kop Chef.
A point against Tottenham on Sunday will also crown him as the first Dutch manager to win the most prestigious trophy of English football.
The man born in the small village of Bergentheim in the Bible belt of Holland almost 47 years ago is praised as a better boss than Anfield Legend Jurgen Klopp.
But in his early match days, a teenager Arne was nicknamed 'Miss Slot' – accused of an unsuitable, lazy and slow football player who refused to make his shirt dirty.
The coach of FC Zwolle at the time, Jan Everse, was one of the most important people in early life.
But he admits that their relationship did not start properly.
Everse, now 71, Sunsport said: “Nobody could play with one touch like Arne.
“But his physical people … he wasn't fast. The way he ran, it looked lazy.
“If the weather was bad, if the field was muddy, it was always clean. You could put his shirt in the cupboard.
“If you gave him the ball, almost every time something happened. He had a very good technique.
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“But I was honest with him. I said: “Arne, you are one of my best players, but your problem is that your opponent is always the best player.”
“You are going to play for Zwolle if you are the best player and your opponent is less. But I don't see it.
“You have to do a lot about your fitness. You are too easy, too lazy.”
Evertis burned the 17-year-old attacking midfielder “Miss Slot”-translated as “Miss Slot”-because of the way he played and how “he never made a big tackle”.
The coach, closed twice for the total football team of Holland, added: “Then he started training.
“In the beginning we didn't have a very good relationship because he didn't play.
“So he was angry with me – but he was smart enough to understand why. He uses that now.
“I am sure I have changed Arne's thoughts about how to behave as a football player.
“He was too easy. When he was injured, he thought: “When I'm fit again, I'll play immediately.” But he waited 1½ years.
“He was patient. I saw him practice and said to my assistant:” Wait a few months and Arne will be the player we want. “
Slot listened and understood that he had to become fitter, to be athletic, more dynamic.
And as soon as he settled in Eings's start XI, he was never fallen again.
Slot also has the skeptics who thought he would struggle to get out of the shadow of Klopp.
His Reds are a huge 12 points free from the nearest challengers Arsenal and can close the title with four more games to play.
Village dwellers in the birthplace of Slot are glued on the television on Sunday to hopefully be crowned.
Bergentheim, population 3,500, is next to the busy train line of Emmen-Zwolle and is dissected by a channel.
It consists of two churches, one supermarket, a few primary schools and is the home of the local football team VV Bergentheim, where Slot learned to play the game in the 80s.
He walked a mile or so to the Moscou sports park via the only bridge in the village and played there until he was seen, 12 years old, through Zwolle Scouts.
He joined Evers in Zwolle. But many years it was his father, Arend, who was the most famous son of the community.
The former director, considered a better player than his son, was a member of the Dutch amateur team who came close to the qualification for the Olympic Games in Montreal from 1976.
Nowadays, Slot Sr Liverpool watches TV and is an honorary member of VV Bergentheim, where his portrait is shown in the immaculate boardroom.
Bert Nijenhuis, 66, has been the chairman of the club for seven years and played with Arend all those decades ago.
And he revealed: “We are all really proud of the boy of Arend. Arne's smart, expert, tactically very strong and has a big football heart.
“He also has a strong working ethics, is disciplined and can make players better. He lets them do what they are good at.
“His father is his coach. Arne was like a little boy in the team meetings and listened to his father.
“We are modest people in a sober village. But there is a lot of respect for what Arne is doing now.”
Some locals have increased the prospect of building a statue for the castle in the village as soon as it is crowned as a Premier League champion.
But Nijenhuis replied: “A statue? In 1945 many people died in the war for our freedom.
“People like that deserve it. We honor those people. I don't think Arne would like a statue. He is a modest man.
“He always went to church in this village with his father, mother, sister and brothers.
“From the Bible you learn how to handle this world.”
Nijenhuis also revealed how a 12-year-old lock was fascinated by the parable of the Good Samaritan.
He remembered: “That story had the most impact on him. A good story to respect each other. Don't make war, make peace.
“When Arne listened to the preacher, he was impressed by that story. That brought him to his heart. That is Arne – both feet on the ground.”
Everse, who was left back for Feyenoord and Ajax until the injury broke off his career, always believed that Slot would do better in English football than his fellow countryman Erik ten Hag Die was fired in October by Manchester United after struggling to make a Premier League power again in a Premier League power.
Everse said, “Arne's smart, count to ten before he says something. He knows exactly what to say.”
Slot, however, was broadcast, with a ban on two games and was fined £ 70,000 after his X-rated rant at Ref Michael Oliver at the end of an explosive 2-2 merseyside Draw with Everton in February.
The FA unveiled Slot had accused Oliver of “F *** ING giving everything” before he shoots: “If we don't win the competition, I will blame you.”
Nijenhuis admitted: “That is the only time that his emotions got better. But that is not Arne. He is always calm.”
And Everse added: “He has good philosophy. I know because it was my philosophy.
“You have to prepare players for the game, so they will never be surprised by anything.
“You have to train your mind because you play football with your head.”
The coaching style of Slot was developed as an assistant at Cambuur and AZ-where they finished second behind Ajax-between 2016-2020.
Conducting Dutch giants Feyenoord to the 2022 Conference League final (which they lost from Jose Mourinho's Roma) and then the Eredivisie title 2023 won the Ajax monopoly in his home country, firmly put on Liverpool's Radar.
And Eve predicted Slot would be an immediate success on Merseyside – although he replaced the German serial trophy winner Klopp.
Everse added: “At the start of the season I said:” He is a better coach than Klopp. “
“You need luck. Arne, as we say in Holland, is lucky on his A ** e. Every good coach is lucky.”
Sometimes when Slot – who has children Joep and Isa with wife Mirjam – visits his parents, he comes in to coach children in the football clinic of VV Bergentheim.
The next time he does that, it will almost certainly be with a medal from a Premier League winners in his pocket.
The last word went to Nijenhuis, who said: “Our big wish is that Liverpool will play Bergentheim here. It is almost impossible, but it would be great.”