Cardiff City have had very little luck when it comes to their ties with Manchester United in recent times.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Federico Macheda are evidence of that, with the former widely acknowledged as one of the Bluebirds' worst managers in recent memory and the latter failing to hit the ground running in Welsh capital following his move from Old Trafford.
They have travelled very different paths since leaving Cardiff City Stadium.
Solskjaer relegated the Bluebirds from the Premier League before getting the sack early on in the following Championship campaign. Now, of course, after returning to his native Norway with Molde for a period, he is in charge of high-flying Manchester United.
The Norwegian manager has come in for a torrent of abuse from Manchester United fans in recent years, with numerous calls for him to be axed. Indeed, Cardiff fans have often enjoyed some schadenfreude in telling United fans they knew all along he was not up to the job.
Despite coming under huge scrutiny as recently November, when United were knocked out of the Champions League, Solskjaer's side currently sit top of the Premier League table - and suddenly the manager is being celebrated.
But Macheda, who was recruited by Solskjaer at Cardiff back in 2014, claims he always knew Solskjaer would succeed, despite what happened with the Bluebirds.
"It was sad," Macheda told the Daily Mail of Solskjaer's Cardiff sacking by Vincent Tan.
"But he's proving a lot of people wrong now. He's showing that he can be the man.
"Personally, I knew it because when you work with him he's the kind of person you want to follow."
Macheda himself has endured something of a journeyman career, turning out for 10 clubs, not making his mark at any of them, really, before landing at Greek outfit Panathinaikos.
The 29-year-old burst on to the scene at Old Trafford, scoring twice in his first two games, the first a dramatic winner against Aston Villa, as an 18-year-old.
He was tipped for massive things, but, despite finally enjoying a fruitful spell in Greece where his record reads 28 goals in 74 appearances, those early days at United remain his pinnacle.
And, reflecting on his career to date, he candidly admits it has not been everything he had hoped.
"It hasn't been as good as I had hoped but I've learned a lot," he added.
"I've overcome a lot of things in my career. Of course, I wish it could have gone another way, with the way it started and the way it was going. I was very down and I managed to turn things around and that isn't easy in football, especially after the path I've had.
"But if I could go back, I wouldn't swap. I wouldn't change that moment. Maybe it came too soon, but it's something that every United fan will remember."
