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For Richie Kyle, his two children posed just one question as he prepared for the trip from Luton Town to Goodison Park this afternoon.

The Hatters assistant manager knows all about the trip to the Old Lady. He spent most of his youth following Everton as a fan alongside family and friends.However, he is now preparing for what he describes as the strangest afternoon of his career, as the club that recruited him takes over the club he grew up supporting.

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“It’s an interesting question and a really interesting question,” he told the ECHO when asked who his two young children would support today. “My niece Abigail, who knows a little better, and George, my five-year-old boy, asked the same question.

“’Dad, who do we support when we go to Everton?’ So I have to tell them no Everton scarves, no Everton badges, no Everton shirts, and you will be with the Luton staff in the main stand.

“I said you can’t wear anything related to Everton. I think they understand that, but we’ll find out soon enough. But they are really looking forward to it. “My mum and wife came too and I think they were just proud that I was in the Premier League, but the kids have different loyalties.

“Luton, especially after Wembley, has played a big part in their young lives, so they have to make a decision on Saturday, but I told them they have to support Luton.”

It seems like just yesterday Kyle was sitting inside Goodison watching Everton as a fan while working as a physical education teacher at Archbishop Beck. But really, it’s because he hasn’t been there that long.

His rise up the football pyramid was as rapid as the club he worked for. Much has been made of Luton’s rise to the Premier League from non-league, but Kyle has also had his own rollercoaster journey. In May 2013, the former Liverpool School Boys coach took a big leap into the unknown. Leaving his role as a PE teacher at Beck, he joined Blackpool as head of academy coaching before working with the club’s first team.

Kyle then joined the Football Association after leaving the Seasiders to work with the next generation of stars. He will take on a new role created by former technical director Dan Ashworth, known as an ownership expert.

Here he found himself working with young British people and also had the opportunity to work with artists such as Gareth Southgate, Steve Holland, Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher. Two years on, after spells at Forest Green Rovers and Watford, Kyle must now adapt to life as a Premier League manager, which means overseeing the Blues as an opposition scout.

“I’ve been a season ticket holder since I was five,” he told the ECHO of his love of Everton. “I went there with my brothers and my grandfather for many years.

“From five o’clock in the afternoon until I started focusing on football full-time when I couldn’t go, even when I coached full-time, I still had time to go watch matches in Goodison.

“It’s only since I started that I’ve reached the level I’m at today and I haven’t gotten that far yet.