With his "headteacher" aura and astute offseason recruitment, Ronald Koeman is making an immediate impact at Everton and getting the best out of the club's strongest squad in a generation.
It might be time for the blue half of Merseyside to start dreaming again, three decades after its trophy-laden heyday.
Koeman, a highly respected ex-Netherlands and Barcelona defender, was lured from Southampton in June and has guided Everton to its best five-game start to a league campaign in 38 years. With a draw and four consecutive wins, Everton is in second place, behind Manchester City, in the English Premier league standings going into a game at 17th-place Bournemouth on Saturday. English football is already looking for the next team to "do a leicester" and rise from nowhere to win the Premier league. Maybe it's Everton's turn, although Koeman has warned against any comparisons with the current champions.
Before Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford in 1986, Everton had been English champions more often than Manchester United, winning eight titles to United's seven, and was the country's major power alongside Merseyside rival liverpool. There's been no silverware since the fifth of Everton's FA Cup titles in 1995, but that may be about to change under Koeman.
Swansea is getting a second opportunity to end Manchester City's perfect start to the season.
City made it nine wins from nine matches in all competitions by beating Swansea 2-1 in the English league Cup on Wednesday, and the teams meet again in Wales on Saturday, this time in the league.