Nottingham Forest have made a habit of turning to familiar faces for managerial inspiration, so could Scot Gemmill form part of the club’s future?
As things stand, a former Reds star is in the dugout.
Martin O’Neill is yet to win over everyone, but his legend status is beyond question.
He is not the first of such a standing to have prowled the City Ground touchline.
Fellow Miracle Man Frank Clark accepted the rather unenviable task of succeeding Brian Clough.
Stuart Pearce, meanwhile, was lured in by the broken promises of the Al Hasawi regime.
Paul Hart, Gary Megson, Colin Calderwood and Dougie Freedman have also returned for more in a coaching capacity.
It is fair to say the record of ex-Reds is mixed at best.
Such a path is well trodden, though, by plenty of sides outside of Nottingham.
The general consensus is that prior experience of life in certain surroundings can only be a good thing.
A policy that makes plenty of sense in theory.
In practice, though, things can play out a little different.
Inevitable
(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)
In fairness to those on the Forest board, other options have been explored.
Young, old, links to the club, proven in England, success abroad – every box has been ticked.
More change is inevitable.
With that in mind, could the Reds look to another former star once O’Neill and Roy Keane depart?
Admittedly, that is an impossible question to answer at this stage.
There is, though, a man with plenty of ties to Forest that could work his way into the equation.
Gemmill is a name with a rich history on Trentside.
Archie spent two years at the club which coincided with First Division and European Cup successes.
He then took in a spell as first team coach alongside Clough after hanging up his boots.
Son Scot joined the youth ranks during that time and followed in his father’s footsteps.
A hard-working midfielder with an eye for an important goal, Gemmill junior took in close to 300 competitive appearances for Forest.
Grounding
He is now cutting his coaching teeth with the Scotland U21 side, and doing quite a job.
A period living in Barcelona upon heading into retirement allowed him to check out how some of the finest talent in the business go about their work.
That grounding has served him well.
Henry Winter has told talkSPORT of Gemmill: “I know Scot well and I’ve always been impressed by him. His modern thinking is impressive.
“I often thought he might be too nice to become a manager, he’s a lovely guy, but there’s a toughness there.
“His knowledge of coaching started at a young age, listening to his father, listening to Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest as a player.
“There’s a toughness there, there’s a hunger there and you can see why a lot of people in Scotland would like to go for a new way of thinking.”
Gemmill is currently being mooted as a potential successor to Alex McLeish with Scotland.
Could he, though, follow the former Forest boss into a different post?
‘Modern thinking’ would certainly be embraced at the City Ground.
As would the past experience of working under Clough.
Maybe the policy of turning to familiar faces should be persevered with by Forest when considering their next appointment.