THEY have chewed the fat about football since they were kids, and Martin Canning has always been sure that Alex Neil knew what he was talking about.
His faith in his friend has proven to be well founded.
A relationship that started in the classroom could eventually lead to Wembley as Neil attempts to complete a remarkable double twelve months on from his finest achievement to date. Having lead Hamilton to the Premiership via the play-offs last season, the 33-year-old now has his sights set on the Premier League as he looks to navigate Norwich through the end of season shoot-out and triumph at the home of English football.
The Canaries fans may be dreaming of a top flight return, but Neil's focus will not stretch beyond Saturday afternoon. A meeting with local rivals Ipswich is the first hurdle Norwich must overcome, with Brentford or Middlesbrough awaiting in the final. After proving the doubters wrong on so many occasions, Neil now has another opportunity to silence the critics and further enhance his burgeoning reputation.
"I used to say my mates and my family that Alex was excellent and that he really had something," Canning said. "They thought I was always going to say that because he's my pal. But what has happened in England shows I'm right. My friends and family now think I know what I'm talking about
"Alex has an intensity about him. It's not difficult to buy into him when you work beside him. And his knowledge of football is excellent, which is the main thing.
"He is a strong character, but he had been that same character for many years here. There was no real change in him. He's shown by doing the same in England that his character is suited to management and that his knowledge works.
"He has gone into a totally different dressing room and situation down there and coped with it. Not just coped, but thrived in it. Best wishes to him and I hope he does it."
It is not just in England where teams are preparing for promotion shots at glory at the end of their respective league campaigns. Rangers, Queen of the South and Hibernian are looking to follow the route that Hamilton took last season and take their place in the Premiership in the coming weeks.
This time around, Canning and his players will be able to watch on from afar as they look to finish in seventh place this term. The memories are still vivid at New Douglas Park, though.
"Belief got Hamilton through the play-offs last year - and a lot of it came from the manager," Canning said. "He believed we were good enough and deserved to be promoted. A lot of teams who lost out on automatic promotion could maybe suffer a downer. But Alex was instrumental in giving us the belief and determination to kick on again and that we could do it.
"I think there is an advantage finishing second. We played Falkirk last year and a few of their players said afterwards that they were tired. They had four games in a fortnight after a long, hard season.
"Emotionally, these are also difficult matches so I think there is an advantage to having that break and just one tie before you hopefully go on to play the Premiership team. For us, it definitely like it gave us an edge."
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