Eric Cantona, Christian Eriksen and David Beckham were some of the names that sprung to mind as Thomas Frank looked ahead to Ivan Toney's long-awaited Brentford comeback.
Following his eight-month ban for breaching FA betting rules Toney will finally return against Nottingham Forest today.
He will be greeted like a hero and treated like one too with the honour of leading Brentford out as captain in the absence of Christian Norgaard, a sense of injustice fuelling him, an acceptance that things could have been different but apologetic?
'Sorry is a big word I think,' Thomas Frank said in a Toney-dominated press conference in which he was asked 31 questions about his talisman.
Toney's enforced absence for non-injury reasons had echoes of Cantona's for the same period in 1995 for kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace fan.
Frank hopes Toney can go one better than Cantona - scorer of United's penalty equaliser in his comeback against Liverpool - by marking his return with victory as well as a goal but sees similarities in their confidence levels.
'Yeah I would say so,' Frank agreed when that suggestion was put to him.
'A little bit different types of players but Ivan's confidence is amazing. I think there's a good story. It's no secret that [Brentford defender] Charlie Goode and Ivan are good friends.
'I had a good talk with Charlie about a year ago, we were talking about Ivan and other bits, he came to the club and I think the first three games he hasn't scored and Charlie said 'are you ok?' and Ivan said 'yeah I'll smash the scoring record in the Championship, I will score more than 30 goals.
'Charlie just looked at him (surprised) - and he did break the record. He has got that confidence. He believes he can score in every action. And
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