Kenny Cunningham isn't hiding his excitement at the return of Mick McCarthy as Ireland manager.
The former Ireland defender joins us for all of Tuesday night's Off The Ball and was part of Big Mick's era in charge.
Speaking on the Newsround, he underlined his optimism in what McCarthy can bring to the table between now and when he is replaced by Stephen Kenny as senior manager in 2020.
"I'm really excited. I can't wait," he said of his initial reaction to the development.
"Can't wait for the games to come around in March. For the first time in a long time, I've got that surge of optimism, bit of a feelgood, that kind of adrenalin kick inside me, so yeah I'm really looking forward to it.
The full Newsround:
"I think Mick will make an impact. I tried to listen to the interviews with Mick and Stephen [Kenny] during the week. I was impressed with the tone of each manager, how [Mick] projected himself, what he had to say. I thought it was two really impressive interviews and I'm very optimistic in terms of the state of play at the moment and where we are."
Kenny believes McCarthy should get plenty of credit for what he achieved at Ipswich in the Championship on a limited budget in comparison to rival teams, and feels Ireland will the benefit of that.
"It's his personality, his presence, his organisational abilities. He's brought a good coach with him in Terry Connor, Robbie Keane's presence as well. Hopefully that will have an immediate impact. And just that uplift in terms of performance is what we really want."
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