Nigel Clough says there will always be a small feeling of 'what if?' following his decision to turn down the Nottingham Forest manager's job in January to stay with Burton Albion.
Forest made an approach for Clough after the sacking of Philippe Montanier on January 14, with the club 20th in the Championship, only one place and two points above the Brewers.
Clough spoke openly at the time about what a challenging decision it would be for him to make, given his emotional ties at the City Ground, where he enjoyed such success as a player and where his father Brian won historic back-to-back European Cups.
But the Brewers boss - who is also intrinsically linked with Burton Albion given his years of success with the club - ultimately elected to stay at the Pirelli Stadium, saying it was "the right thing to do" as he aimed to finish the job and keep Albion in the Championship.
Ten months down the line, and with that against-the-odds goal achieved, Clough is readying his Burton team for a trip to Forest this weekend where they will hope to secure a first away win of the campaign.
So does it feel a long time since that dilemma posed itself to the Brewers manager?
"It really does! It's 10 months, but it does," answered Clough.
"It's one of those not very pleasant times where you have to make a decision like that.
"It doesn't come along very often when you get such a major decision in your life.
"I'm glad it was made and done and moved on.
"There will always be that little element of 'what if?' if we'd made the different decision.
"But you try to put those thoughts out of your mind.
"That was the main thing, to stay in the division with Burton - and that was the overriding concern.
"That's why we made the decision that we did, and that worked out okay in the end.
"Also, I know it was touch-and-go with Forest almost going down, but I'm delighted they stayed up.
"I would rather it had been them than us come the crunch!
"But we were all delighted that they managed to stay up."
Clough received a warm welcome at his old stomping ground when Albion travelled to Forest on the opening day of the 2016/17 campaign.
And he believes the Reds' supporters will appreciate exactly why he chose to stay with Burton last season rather than reuniting with his former club.
"I don't think anything will have changed in that regard," he added.
"Hopefully it will be the same as when we went there on the opening day just over 12 months ago.
"I think the majority of the fans will understand why that was done.
"Feelings for the club haven't changed in any way.
"It doesn't alter having been there for 10 years as a player - that doesn't change.
"They understood, hopefully, the reasons for turning down the job and not wanting to walk out on the job we had here."
The link, of course, will always be there between Clough and Forest - and the Brewers boss would never say never.
For now, though, his focus will be on helping Albion overcome the Reds, while opposite number Mark Warburton will be similarly determined for victory.
"It's always one day, perhaps, with that sort of thing and the emotional attachment to it," said Clough on the Forest job being one he may like to take on at some point.
"But I don't think it'll be for the foreseeable future.
"Maybe in about five years' time when Mark's had enough at Forest and the chairman (Ben Robinson) has had enough of us here, although that might be sooner here!
"You never know down the line, but I think everybody's just concentrating on the job that we've got here."
