Jack Ross says his father will be bursting with pride when he watches his son lead Sunderland out at Wembley in tomorrow's Checkatrade Trophy final.
The cup final will be a family affair for Ross , with wife Heather, two young daughters, mother, father, and in-laws, all heading to the capital to cheer on the Wearsiders alongside 40,000-plus Sunderland fans, as the Black Cats take on Portsmouth.
And for Ross' father Stewart, who has followed his career as player and manager and who he describes as his 'best friend in football, confidant, and go-to guy', it will be an extra-special occasion.
"My wife and two girls are going down to Wembley, my mum and dad, and mother and father-in-law too," said Ross.
"They will enjoy their weekend, making a proper weekend of it, doing different things in London.
Sunderland skipper George Honeyman has led by example, says Lee Cattermole
"My mum and dad will have a great time - dad in particular, because like a lot of dads he has travelled here there and everywhere over the years following my career, so I am sure he will enjoy this kind of occasion."
Ross has been involved in cup finals in Scotland as player and manager but has never collected a winners' medal, but he is looking forward to his first visit to the new Wembley and the possibility of at last being on the winning side.
He said: "When you grow up immersed in football, I grew up when cup final day was huge, FA Cup final and Scottish Cup Final day, the build-up was huge, Wembley and Hampden have been a big parts of my upbringing, I have always understood the significance of it.
"When you are fortunate enough to have a career in football you want to play at these venues, I was lucky enough to play at Hampden on a couple of occasions but never at Wembley.
"To have the chance to lead a team out at Wembley as a manager is something that in the fullness of time I will take great pride in."
Sunderland are travelling South on the eve of the game as they would for any away fixture, but with an away league game at Accrington Stanley coming up on Wednesday, they will also stay in London on Sunday night before returning to the North-East on Monday to begin preparations for that match.
Ross said: "We are travelling down Saturday lunchtime, stay overnight, play the game Sunday and stay an extra day due to the logistics of coming home Sunday by the time we'd leave the stadium.
Sunderland's Wembley selection issues, 2014 remembered - podcast special
"We play Wednesday so that was important too, the aftermath. Everything else has been pretty normal for us."
Include Sunderland's abandoned game at Accrington in December, and tomorrow's cup final will be the Black Cats' 50th game of the season in all competitions - and they still have nine league games to go, plus the potential of two or three more games in the play-offs if they miss out on automatic promotion.
But Ross has no worries over whether his squad can stay the course.
He said: "I have not sensed any fatigue from them, mentally or physically. We had a tough schedule of games before the break.
"They worked really hard in training this week. They can deal with it. It is probably the last time we have to work as hard as that until the end of the season given the number of games coming up.
"We have a group who trust their fitness and feel fairly strong."
