Having played for Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy with Ireland, Alan Browne knows what the recent appointment at the Welsh club will bring to their set up.
And whilst he wants to put one over on him at the weekend, he expects his former international boss to be a success at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Speaking to iFollow PNE ahead of the game, the PNE captain said: “I know what Mick is about, how he sets his teams up, how he likes to operate and I hope it goes really well there for him, just not this weekend!
“I think [his approach] will work well for him; I think it has so far and I think it will continue to do so. Knowing Mick, the players will really enjoy their time under him and will all get behind him and likewise he will get behind them. I am sure they will be a successful team if he is there long enough.
“He simplifies things for players. He gets the basics right and going out on the pitch you know your job and you know your team-mates job, which is important. You know what you are getting week in, week out from each other and that understanding and relationship is really important.”
This is something that Browney and his team-mates have been working on over the past couple of weeks, with eight new faces coming into the squad in January and another eight on their way out and he admits that patience is important, even though the pieces of the jigsaw are all present.
“It is a tough one; you want to kick on, but at the same time you have players leaving and new players coming in and you have to familiarise yourself with each other and get a relationship as quickly as possible,” continued the No.8.
“The best way to do that is to go back to basics and in the last two games you could see that whilst it wasn’t pretty at times, there are some talented players there and they are showing their quality and there were glimpses there.
“The main part is to put the pieces together and at this time of the season you need everything to be clicking into place. To have so many changes in one window is unheard of for us especially, but for most clubs it is rare and we are starting pretty much from scratch, especially the core of the team, but it is up to us to settle as quickly as we can and get on with our jobs.”
And the skipper thinks that with a quick run of results, everything can look very different, very quickly, as the Bluebirds have illustrated with four wins back-to-back.
“The tough part of this is getting on a run, because, as we know, there is no easy game. For us this season, we have been up and down; we haven’t drawn many, it has either been win or lose.
“To be fair, I don’t mind that, because you would rather win one and lose one than draw two, but it has affected our momentum, which is why we have found ourselves in a sticky position.
“If we can get two or three wins on the bounce, then it can take us a long way, but it is a long way off where we want to be. Everyone who has played in this division knows that with three or four wins, you can be in a completely different position and that’s what we are aiming to do, get those wins together and try and go on as good a run as we possibly can.
This weekend's game is only available on iFollow PNE, with Jonathan Breeze joined on commentary duty by former PNE defender Rob Edwards for all the action, on air from just after 2.30pm. To watch the full game live, click here now to sign up for iFollow PNE match pass for just £10.