Andy Sinton had a little bit of insight for Ryan Manning. A month ago, in the days after watching QPR lose at home to Aston Villa, the former England international was standing on the sidelines at QPR training.
Over walked manager Ian Holloway, just a month back at Loftus Road following the sacking of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
I watched training a couple of times after the Villa game and he threw you into training. He came over to me and he said 'I really like this kid. He's got everything I'm looking for.'
Sinton said at that moment, he knew the 20-year-old from Galway was on the verge of a first team break through. It would come less than a fortnight later, on New Year's Eve against Wolves.
Since making his debut, Manning, who was speaking along with Sinton on QPR's Loftcast podcast, said that the support from home has been plentiful.
It's been mad. The support's been mad at home. Lots of text messages. Lots of support from everyone back home.
My parents, they're living in Galway at the moment, they flew over for the Ipswich game. They got to see my home debut. My godfather and his little boy came over too
Before Holloway arrived for his second stint in charge of the club, Manning's career prospects at QPR were not looking good. He'd been there since January 2015 - joining from Galway United - but was yet to make his first team bow.
Holloway's appointment began the end of a frustrating two years for Manning. He viewed it as an opportunity, a chance to showcase his abilities to fresh eyes.
It was tough. The first few months after coming over I was settling in and that. I was thinking about it, I wanted to play as soon as possible. I knew that there was going to be an adjustment period. Last season was frustrating to not be involved at all. I felt I was doing well in patches and not getting a reward. During the times when I felt I was playing well, to not be getting anywhere near the first team was a kick in the teeth each time it happened.
Then I came back this season and felt I was doing better than the last couple. I was just delighted when the new manager came in and he saw something [in me] and I got to train with the first team a lot.
It was a tough period, I'm not going to lie.
Prior to the Wolves game, Manning headed home to Galway for Christmas. He had no idea that he would be making his debut for the club just days later - that Sinton knowledge had not been imparted.
He thought, if anything, the FA Cup came against Blackburn on January 7th might be his chance. It actually turned out that he was rested for that game.
Manning only found out he would be making his debut on the morning of the game, but he did have an inkling following the previous day's training session.
The day before we did team shape I got thrown into the starting XI there. I thought maybe there's just someone not training today that's going to be playing tomorrow but I just carried on with it and then I was in the squad.
The day before in the hotel, there were rumours about it and the boys were just saying 'Prepare for it'. Then that morning we had the team meeting and he [Ian Holloway] just threw me in and said 'Go out and do what you've been doing. You've impressed me so far. Enjoy it.'
Manning's debut was a memorable one. He played the whole game as QPR won 2-1 with a late winner from Pawel Wszolek. Such was his elation afterwards, Manning says he slept more on the night before to the game than he did following.
I didn't want anyone to think that I was nervous so I was just trying to play it off.
That's what I was most nervous about, getting those first few touches. When I got those few in and I got a couple of diagonals, it couldn't have gone any better for me. I just grew into and stopped thinking it was my debut and started treating it like any other game.
Such is the nature of the festive fixture list in English football, Manning's home debut followed just two days later - another win, this time against Ipswich.
After being rested for the FA Cup game against Blackburn, Manning capped a momentous fortnight with his first assist for the club. A delicious pass into the path of Jamie Mackie for the winner against promotion contenders Reading on January 12th. The game was live on Sky.
On commentary, there was some debate about Manning's intention. Was it a pass or a mishit shot?
Manning was emphatic when asked.
It was a pass.
When I was running down the pitch, I was checking to see where Jamie was. Obviously, if it had been on the other side on my left foot I was shooting that all day long. I knew that Jamie was in the back post region, I knew that I just had to feed this around the corner. It just perfectly landed and we got the goal. I was delighted with it really.
