Whichever team triumphs in tomorrow's Carling Cup final, the winning manager will join a select band who have lifted one of English football's three major trophies after being appointed at a relatively senior age.
In the past two decades, only three managers have won an English trophy after taking the reins at the age of 50 or above. Those three were Gerard Houllier, aged 50 when he was appointed at Liverpool and who took them to the FA Cup in 2001 and two League Cup triumphs; George Graham, 53, when he took over at Tottenham and guided them to League Cup victory in 1999; and Ron Atkinson, 52, when he was appointed Aston Villa manager before winning the League Cup in 1994.
Juande Ramos and Avram Grant - the respective managers of tomorrow's finalists, Tottenham and Chelsea - were 53 and 52 respectively when they were appointed last autumn. To put those ages into perspective, even when one of their names is added to the roll call of winning managers, the average age of the last 20 League Cup winning managers at the time of appointment will be only 44.
Graham, who was approaching his 54th birthday when he joined Tottenham, will remain the oldest appointee to win a trophy in the past two decades, with Ramos or Grant going above Atkinson into second place on the golden oldies list. Ramos or Grant will join Houllier as managers who had their first taste of English success in the League Cup. The only other fifty-something appointee whose first trophy was the League Cup was Joe Fagan, who won with Liverpool in 1984 before going on to clinch the league title and the European Cup. Tomorrow's winning manager may take it as an omen that after breaking their duck by winning the League Cup, both Fagan and Houllier went on to more success later the same season.
In the build-up to tomorrow's final much has been made of Ramos's excellent record in cup competitions and, following his two Uefa Cup wins with Sevilla, he took a step towards an unprecedented third straight success in that competition when Tottenham moved into the last 16 on Thursday night.
A little cup magic may be needed tomorrow as Tottenham's form lags well behind Chelsea's, despite promising signs of progress under Ramos. Tottenham have been harder to beat since the Spaniard's arrival, with only five defeats in 20 against Premier League opposition, but four of those defeats were against top-half teams and one was a 2-0 loss at Chelsea six weeks ago.
Grant was more fortunate than Ramos in taking over a top-quality squad with a winning habit, but his record so far stands comparison with the very best. In 34 games for Grant in all competitions, Chelsea have won 24 and lost only two (away to Arsenal and Manchester United - the latter defeat, in Grant's first game, was influenced by the questionable sending-off of John Obi Mikel). Jose Mourinho's first 34 games at Chelsea yielded 26 wins, with two defeats.