Sam Allardyce will be unveiled to the world as the new England manager on Monday after he finally got the job he always craved.
The 61-year-old, fresh from keeping Sunderland in the Premier League against the odds, was the unanimous choice from the Football Association panel to replace Roy Hodgson - who stepped down after the humiliation of defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
Allardyce has the self-belief he will need to battle off the early doubters who have questioned what sort of style his England side will play.
He has made no secret down the years that he would like a crack at leading his beloved England, from when he first took Bolton into the top-flight it was a role he thought would suit him.
Steve McClaren was chosen ahead of him after Allardyce was interviewed in 2006 - but this time he was the man, and he insists he is ready for the challenge.
''For me, with my experience, I think it's the right time,'' he said as he was finally confirmed by the Football Association after discussing his severance from Sunderland.
''I think I'm at the right age, with the right experience and hopefully I can pass my knowledge and experience onto the team and the staff working behind the team.''
There will be plenty for Allardyce to answer when he walks into the packed press room at St George's Park, puffing his chest out with the pride that can only come with an Englishman leading the England national team.
Will Wayne Rooney remain as captain? Who will make up his backroom staff? Will he keep faith with the majority of players who so badly underperformed at Euro 2016?
Allardyce himself may not know the answers to all of those questions when he takes his seat in front of the glaring lights of the television cameras.
But he has always had a presence when talking to the media, commanding the flow of conversation expertly away from areas he does not particularly want to be led.
Despite those questions and whether they are addressed sufficiently, one query will be looming as the elephant in the room, and it is one that he will need to answer - his perceived antiquated tactics.
The former hard-hitting defender bristles suggestions of deploying long-ball, aggressive tactics that have plagued his managerial career, and points to being a technological revolutionary in England, but one thing he does not lack is confidence.
''I should have got it,'' he said in his 2015 autobiography about his interview for the England post in 2006.
''As I'm a better manager now than I was then, I believe I should be in the running whenever it comes round again. That's not vanity or being full of my own importance. My track record entitles me to be considered.''
And he was more than considered, he was interviewed and chosen, unanimously, as the man to replace Hodgson - now his first test is to give a strong performance at his official unveiling.
Source: PA
