Burnley manager Owen Coyle has managed to get the better of Luiz Felipe Scolari, Arsene Wenger and Roy Hodgson on the way to the Carling Cup semi-finals - but bringing down Harry Redknapp's Tottenham might top the lot.
Coyle, 42, claimed the Tottenham boss is "an inspiration for any young manager" ahead of their first-leg meeting at White Hart Lane on Tuesday night.
That is quite an accolade given he has already overcome Fulham's Hodgson, Chelsea's Scolari and Arsenal's Wenger to leave his promotion-chasing Coca-Cola Championship side just two steps from Wembley.
Coyle said: "From my own personal development, it has been a great experience as you want to pit yourself against the best whether as a player or as a manager.
"I have faced Wenger twice, once in the FA Cup. Scolari is a World Cup winner (with Brazil) - it does not get much better than that.
"Hodgson is a top coach in world football and I have immense respect for him.
"Harry Redknapp, in particular, is an inspiration to any young manager. He has worked his socks off to get to where he is. He certainly never followed a glamour route in terms of where he started.
"In football there is sometimes an element who go for what you would call a sexy appointment. Maybe someone who has been a fantastic player but has no real coaching badges.
"Harry has shown that having been at the coal face and worked hard wherever he has been, that's the route you want to go down and develop yourself."
Redknapp, whose career in management began at Bournemouth, took in Burnley's draw against QPR in the FA Cup on Saturday at Loftus Road.
And Coyle expects Tottenham to be fired up, especially as they are the cup holders.
Coyle said: "They have been re-invigorated and re-energised since Harry's appointment. They were struggling with confidence and struggling for results.
"He has come in and given them a tremendous lift because he is a top manager in world football."
Coyle, however, has good cup experience that he can pass on to his young players.
As manager of St Johnstone he led the Perth side to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup, where they lost to Celtic and Hibernian respectively.
He was also part of the Bolton squad that reached the League Cup final in 1995, only to lose to Liverpool.
Coyle will have a simple message for his players ahead of the Spurs clash.
"What I don't want is any regrets, " he said. "I don't want them thinking after both legs, 'Oh if only I had done this'.
"If we get to the level we are capable of we have a chance. We have to be positive. If we sit in then Tottenham will pick us off.
"We can create chances and score goals. But everyone is going to have to work their socks off."
It will be a special occasion for midfielder Chris Eagles who was a season-ticket holder at Tottenham as a youngster.
He will have his own special fan club at the match after dishing out 20 tickets to close family and friends.
Eagles, who arrived at Turf Moor from Manchester United in the summer, admitted: "It would be up there with the best if I could score at White Hart Lane.
"Going there is a big thing for me after watching the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann and Paul Gascoigne at Spurs when I was a kid. They had a strong team."
