Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder will find a very different world to the one he left behind when he returns to West Ham today for the first time since they dismissed him nearly three years ago.
At that time, West Ham were a selling club, developing a succession of top-quality players who have since left to make their mark on grander Premiership stages and at international level.
Now the Londoners are more noted for recruiting quality players, a trend that reached its apex when Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez arrived in east London at the end of last month.
Now both could start a Premiership game for the first time against Newcastle, who were unable to produce any similar eye-catching deals before the transfer deadline.
Newcastle's lack of activity and two successive league defeats have prompted the bookmakers to make Roeder favourite to be the next Premiership manager to be sacked.
That has only added to the pressure on Roeder, who endured difficult times while in charge at West Ham, but the 50-year-old maintains he has nothing to prove -- and there is no question of a revenge mission for the way he was treated at the end of his stay.
However, Roeder certainly expects a mixed reception from West Ham supporters, but says: "As the opposition manager, I'd pay more attention to the reception I receive from our supporters. There will be a group of West Ham supporters that will give me a good one, and a minority who will not."
Roeder was sacked by the East London club in 2003 shortly after major surgery to remove a brain tumour. It brought the curtain down on a roller-coaster two-year reign that delivered the club's highest Premier League finish of seventh in 2002, followed by relegation 12 months later despite a points haul of 42.
"I don't feel I've anything to prove," he said. "We got relegated and I ended up losing my job the next season after two wins, a draw and a defeat. I got knocked down and got up and marched on. There's no bitterness."
Roeder feels his well-documented health problems at Upton Park have helped him to keep a sense of perspective since he took over from Graeme Souness seven months ago.
He added: "I feel lucky I had the health scare there. It reshaped the way I get on with life. Some of the little things that would have bothered me in the past I now allow to go over my head and don't worry about them."
"Life can be short and we all hang by a thread. You can kill yourself worrying because 99 percent of things you worry about don't happen," he said.
Roeder has several selection issues as Newcastle look to build on their midweek UEFA Cup victory over Levadia Tallinn.
Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano is out for three weeks with hamstring trouble, while defenders Titus Bramble (knee and ankle), and Steven Taylor (foot) are major doubts.
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