Thomas Tuchel went from the sack to Champions League winner in 156 days.
And on the day a fellow head coach was handed his cards across town, Tuchel gave thanks for his happy landing at Chelsea and admitted the axe was not the end of the world for him.
Five weeks after he was sent packing by Paris Saint-Germain on Christmas Eve, the German ringmaster answered the distress flare from Stamford Bridge – and found his “perfect fit.”
Now Tuchel is three points clear at the Premier League summit, and when he leads the champions of Europe into this evening's Group H return with Malmo, the Blues will be the biggest noise in Sweden since Abba announced their comeback album.
Nuno Espirito Santo's peep show at Tottenham was no cause for celebration, and Tuchel said: “I got the news today that one of my colleagues was sacked, which is not good news and never nice to hear.”
But the Chelsea manager, who wears his baseball cap like a crown, is living proof that a P45 is merely an intermission, and not the final curtain, for progressive coaches.
And 280 days into his reign in SW6, Tuchel has planted a blue flag at the summit from Porto to Parsons Green, although he insisted: “You also need a bit of luck.
“You cannot win the Champions League by pure planning and quality of playing. You also need a bit of luck and that it’s meant to be that you catch the momentum.
“I am very grateful and I think I am here in this place right now because of my experiences with other clubs before.
“Now it seems to be a perfect fit from day one for me and I am super-happy to be part of this club. Maybe this is the last per cent - if you feel happy and fully appreciated then everything falls into place very genuinely.
“I don’t know if I need extra motivation. Obviously I was not happy to be sacked at Christmas because my mission at PSG was not fulfilled. I had big plans for the Champions League again and to win the domestic title again and again.
“I was hungry to do that and we were on the way. Of course this was a huge interruption and some weeks later came a huge opportunity with Chelsea.
“The desire to step into this adventure was much higher than the fear and the concern about the 18- month contract.
“In football you need to take on the adventure, you have to be brave and courageous – and it’s a good environment to do this.”
Following their 3-0 win at Newcastle on Saturday, 12 of Chelsea's 26 goals in the Premier League and Europe this season have been scored by defenders.
Tuchel is keen share the goalscoring burden across the team, saying: “Any manager tries not to rely on only one or two strikers.
“But the statistic will look a bit different if you interpret the wing-backs more as midfielders. And defenders need to be dangerous on set pieces, so there is a focus on them, but still we hope we can put our strikers on top of the list at the end of season.”
Tuchel will be without the injured Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Mateo Kovacic against Malmo, while England midfielder Mason Mount has not recovered from the illness which ruled him out at Newcastle.
“Mason does not feel better,' he said. “To prevent any speculation, it’s not Covid - he’s just ill.”
