Graeme Philson played with United duo Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick and Chelsea goalscorer Frank Lampard only a decade ago at West Ham United.
In fact Carrick was the Londonderry man's boot-boy, while England captain Ferdinand and midfielder Lampard were in the Hammers Reserve team which Philson skippered in 1998.
"It's pretty ironic, 10 years on, I'm playing for Institute, while those three are playing in one of the biggest games in world football," laughed Philson.
"Although Carrick cleaned my boots, I wasn't really cheering him or Chelsea on, I don't support either Man U or Chelsea, I'm a Wolves fan, I was just hoping for a good game, which it turned out to be."
The 33-year-old has fond memories of his time at Upton Park and like many people at the club, he knew the trio were going to hit the big time.
"You could see that both Ferdinand and Carrick were class acts and there was a lot of teams looking at them, as for Lampard, he was a great work horse and trained really hard, while his father (Frank senior) also pushed him hard.
"I had a fantastic time at West Ham, in fact I enjoyed every minute of it and to be honest I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity.
"If I had went over to a lower league club, I possibly could have made a career in England, but I have no regrets and really enjoyed the experience.
"West Ham kept me for my entire three year contract and they would only allow me to move back to an Irish League club and weren't too keen on the idea of selling me to another English side, so I'm proud of that."
As for now, the defender is mulling over a new contract with his home town club Institute.
"John Gregg has offered me a new deal at Institute, he felt my form towards the end of the season was good and that I got my appetite back, so we'll have to wait and see.
"It's great that 'Stute got into the invitational league, they put in a lot of hard work and thankfully that has paid off," concluded Philson.