Niall Quinn - former Irish record goalscorer, Leinster minor winning hurler, third choice goalkeeper at Italia 90, Premier League chairman, Championship manager, Broadband provider, Saipan peace negotiator and George Mitchell impersonator - has written in his Sky Sports column today about his role in ensuring that James McClean was in Moldova in Sunday and not in Germany this evening.
Quinner was Sunderland chairman when the young buck from Derry rose through the ranks. The chief scout at Sunderland was Bryan 'Pop' Robson, who had formerly worked at Chelsea.
While Robson was at Chelsea, the club had pondered hard the possibility of signing McClean. His age eventually put them off and they passed.
McClean at Chelsea presents us with an interesting alternate reality. Given the political leanings of the Chelsea support, the tendency of some of their more boisterous supporters towards right-wing politics, and their curious blood brothers relationship with Rangers and Linfield, we're not sure the club would have been a right fit for James.
When Robson moved back to Sunderland, he alerted them to McClean. Quinn and Steve Bruce knew nothing about McClean but Robson was adamant and they trusted his judgement.
It was established very early on that McClean, though a Northern Ireland player at underage level, was determined to play for Republic of Ireland.
We held negotiations in Castleknock, Dublin when I was back home to see the All-Ireland Gaelic football semi-final in 2011. James's agent, Eamonn McLoughlin was always a very likeable guy as agents go, easy to deal with.
All through the deal there was one burning issue that Eamonn pushed for. He wanted me to call the FAI and tell them James wanted to switch from Northern Ireland to the Republic. We agreed a fee with further payments if James made the first team and another payment if James played for Ireland.
I spoke to John Delaney at the FAI. I explained how we at Sunderland felt this lad had a decent chance and asked JD to consider securing him for Giovanni Trapattoni. John showed great faith too by starting the paperwork and he also invited James' parents to the next Irish game in Dublin. Meanwhile James had arrived in Sunderland.
In the early months of 2012, McClean was suddenly hot property at Sunderland. He scored more goals in the second half of the 2011-12 season than did any other Irish player. And Ireland were gunning for the Euros.
As we know Giovanni Trapattoni dragged his feet about capping McClean and wasn't impressed by the clamour for his call-up. He joked that when he heard the roar greeting his eventual introduction, he thought he must have thrown on Messi or Ronaldo. The Irish football public, he suggested, were a bit deluded.
The public has calmed down about McClean but he is increasingly an integral part of the side. His finishing on Sunday showed a composure not hitherto associated with McClean.
Quinn gives him great credit for not changing who he is in his rise to the top.
It's a funny thing but for all the controversies that have followed James since then, he seldom gets the credit for remaining true to who he is. The worry with a player who makes such rapid progress in the Premier League is that his head will be turned. The quiet lad you signed will be appearing in tabloids smoking a shisha pipe in some nightclub in Marbella at 4am with a pile of ne'er do well hangers-on who he didn't know two weeks previously. Not James.
