CLASH may just be the operative word when two former Swansea City managers square up at Wembley tomorrow.
Kenny Jackett and Roberto Martinez both played their parts in the success story which sees Swansea preparing for European football next season.
And for a long time, they were working together.
Things came to a fairly sour end when Jackett told Martinez his services were no longer required in SA1.
Yet Martinez, of course, would be back to succeed where Jackett had failed.
Jackett and Martinez will walk out under the arch side by side tomorrow evening as Millwall try to upset Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup semi-final.
The last time they were together for a showpiece occasion, Jackett ensured that Martinez remained in the stands.
It was the 2006 League One play-off final, when Jackett's Swansea side took on Barnsley at the Millennium Stadium.
Martinez was Swansea's club captain, but Kristian O'Leary and Owain Tudur Jones played at the heart of Jackett's midfield.
There was no central midfielder among Jackett's five substitutes, so Martinez did not even get changed.
It was not a huge shock, therefore, when a couple of days after Swansea were beaten on penalties, Jackett called the out-of-contract Martinez into his office and informed him that there was no new deal on the table.
Martinez's sparkling spell as a Swansea player had come to a miserable, undignified conclusion.
This was not a fitting farewell for a man who had brought so much to Swansea after Brian Flynn coaxed him to South Wales early in 2003.
Flynn made some huge signings in that most significant of seasons, with the likes of Kevin Nugent, Lenny Johnrose and Neil Cutler playing their part in helping Swansea avoid the drop.
Then there were the youngsters who would go on and become Swansea legends, Leon Britton and Alan Tate.
But if you had to pick out one of Flynn's numerous recruits as the biggest influence in that survival fight, Martinez would surely be the man.
His immense contribution did not end there, of course.
A little further down the line, Martinez would steer Swansea in a whole new direction, a decision the club are still reaping the benefits from today.
Long before he swapped his boots for those trademark brown loafers, Martinez was a key Swansea player.
The Spaniard's most important spell wearing the Swansea shirt was the first few months after he arrived from Walsall reserves.
He was the central figure in a Swansea side which was very quickly rebuilt and got the job done — namely dodging the drop to the Conference — by the skin of their teeth.
After the drama of Rochdale and Hull City, Swansea began their ascent of the football pyramid.
Martinez continued to have an influence as the team began to improve, featuring regularly even after Flynn was axed and replaced by Jackett in the spring of 2004.
A classy, ball-playing midfielder, Martinez was a firm favourite with the fans by the time Jackett arrived.
Yet Swansea's new manager wasted little time in shaking things up, memorably leaving Martinez out of his squad in the second game of his first full season at the helm.
Martinez fought back, making 42 appearances in Jackett's maiden campaign — 2004-05 — and another 48 in the following season.
But all along there was a feeling that Martinez was not Jackett's type of central midfielder.
Equally, there was a sense that Martinez was not convinced about the style of football Jackett wanted Swansea to play.
That much became clear when, after his release in the wake of Barnsley in 2006, Martinez got a call from the Liberty in February 2007.
Jackett had walked when it became obvious that automatic promotion — Swansea's goal for the season after the Barnsley heartbreaker — was not going to happen.
And rather than go for a more experienced successor, Huw Jenkins turned to Martinez.
It proved an inspired move. The story goes that Martinez, who had signed for Chester City after being freed by Jackett, climbed off the team bus to get in his car and drive back to Wales.
Swansea's decision-makers had not forgotten the class Martinez had shown during his time as one of their players.
And they remembered, too, his thoughts on how football should be played.
Jackett's contribution to Swansea's climb from League Two to the Premier League should not be forgotten.
He was the one who masterminded the first promotion, after all, having instilled greater discipline and defensive grit during almost three seasons at the helm.
That promotion was all the more impressive given that it came in Swansea's final year at Vetch Field, which brought with it a set of pressures no other manager of the club has faced.
Jackett came within a penalty shootout of taking Swansea up the next rung a year later but, with hindsight, the club's followers may be glad their team were beaten in Cardiff.
The Barnsley loss was the beginning of the end for Jackett, and the appointment of Martinez as his successor must go down as one of the most critical days in more than a century of Swansea history.
He would lead Swansea into the Championship, Garry Monk lifting the League One trophy at Brighton after Martinez's men had dominated the third tier.
And like Jackett, he would do a fine job of establishing the club at the next level.
But what was really important about Martinez the Swansea manager was the philosophy which he introduced.
To change the mindset, to do something that was out of the ordinary in the English lower leagues, was brave for a managerial novice. But Martinez got it right, and Swansea have been building on the foundations he laid ever since.
Though Jackett did his bit, Martinez was the bigger influence in Swansea's remarkable rise.
He will hope to outshine his old boss once more this weekend, but Millwall's players will have other ideas.
