On 18 July 2004 Filipe Morais became one of 14 players to feature as English football welcomed in a new era – that of Jose Mourinho.
Morais, then aged 18 and on the books at Chelsea, was brought on as an 83rd-minute substitute as Mourinho began his first spell at Chelsea with a pre-season friendly at Oxford United.
It was a team that included Joe Cole, Glen Johnson and Scott Parker.
Eidur Gudjohnsen, Geremi and Celestine Babayaro all played – and all enjoyed prolific careers in top-flight leagues across Europe and at international level.
Bradford v Millwall
FA Cup Third Round Replay
7.45pm, Wednesday 14 January
Valley Parade, Bradford
Winners play Chelsea
Winners receive £67,500 from prize fund
But despite a couple of Under-21 appearances for Portugal, it never quite worked out like that for Morais.
He now plays his football at Bradford City, where he is loving life and has recently signed a two-and-a-half year contract.
And finding a settled spot in a club where he feels at home has not come easily for Morais.
After a short stint on loan at MK Dons, Chelsea released him at the start of the 2006-07 without ever having made a competitive first-team appearance.
From there he joined Millwall. But it did not happen for him at the Den either.
"Millwall came at the wrong time for me to be honest," recalled the 29-year-old.
"I’d just come from Chelsea and I was a young kid with a completely different mentality to what I have now.
"It was an exciting time, but I didn’t really know as a young player what was required of me and what I needed to do to get people on my side.
"I had to learn how to do the basics right. I was a flamboyant winger and I was trying to do too many tricks. I didn’t think learning the basics was needed."
Filipe Morais challenges Millwall's Matt Briggs for possession in the first meeting
After Nigel Spackman – who had brought the young winger to the Den – was sacked, Morais also left the club and travelled north to Scotland.
Stints at St. Johnstone, Hibernian and Inverness Caledonian Thistle followed, before he returned to England in 2010 to join Oldham Athletic, where he remained for two years.
Following another two-year stint, this time at League One Stevenage, he signed for Bradford at the start of the 2014-15 season.
Now engaged to be married and settled in the Yorkshire city, the Portuguese-born winger – who moved with his family to the north London suburb of Finchley as toddler – is enjoying his football again.
"It’s big club, the fans are brilliant," he said.
"I love it here. It’s the best club I’ve played for to be honest and I want to be here for a long, long time."
And after seeing his club drawn against his first club in The FA Cup Fourth Round, he's determined to help the Bantams get past Millwall and into the glamour tie at Stamford Bridge.
"I was obviously over the moon [with the Fourth Round draw] but we don't really want to talk about it too much just yet," he added.
"It is clearly a big incentive for us going into that replay but we know that Millwall will be keen to win through as well.
“I was obviously over the moon but we don't really want to talk about it too much just yet”
Filipe Morais on drawing Chelsea in the Fourth Round
"We'd agreed the new deal and then I go home to watch the draw and see Chelsea picked out to play either Millwall or Bradford.
With the home advantage now in their favour, asked whether he thinks League One high-flyers Bradford have the upper hand over the Championship strugglers, Morais remained cautious.
"I don’t think we can consider ourselves favourites," he said.
"They’ve got players on a lot more money than our players, put it that way.
"It’s a bigger budget and they’ve got a strong squad. So no, I don’t think we can consider ourselves favourites."
Bradford take on Millwall in The FA Cup Third Round replay on Wednesday 14 January at 7.45pm.
