Roy Hodgson has added former Manchester United defender Gary Neville to his England coaching team, bringing in the 85-cap international not just for this summer's European Championship but the duration of his four-year contract.
The recently appointed boss intriguingly revealed upon explaining the decision on the FA's website that he was so determined to involve the unexpectedly popular Sky Sports contributor in his setup that he pitched the idea in his initial interview for the job.
He said: "Gary has achieved so much in the game as a player with Manchester United and England. He has obtained UEFA coaching qualifications and will be tremendously respected by the players because of his vast experience as a player."
"At my first meeting with the FA, I explained that Gary was someone I wanted as part of my staff. I think it is very important we have a younger coach who knows the dressing room and is very experienced at international level."
Neville is certainly familiar with the preparation required for international tournaments and the way they are conducted having participated in five as a player under four different managers: Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Sven-Goran Eriksson.
The 37-year-old ironically trumpeted Harry Redknapp as the best man for the England gig following Fabio Capello's departure, but was one of the first to back Hodgson after he was hired, and is now 13.012/1 to help him guide England to glory at Euro 2012.
Neville, who joins Ray Lewington and Dave Watson on the staff, has widely been lauded as the best pundit on English television this season, though the FA's apparent attempts to promote that as an asset for this position might be a slight exaggeration.
However, if there is a relationship between standard of punditry and coaching prowess then England fans can at least be optimistic that Neville's stint working alongside Hodgson will be more successful than Alan Shearer's brief spell as Newcastle manager.