You certainly feel safe in your bed when a former world boxing champion is looking down on you while you sleep.
James DeGale did not box at the Athens Games but somehow has ended up on the bedroom wall of the Civitel Olympic Hotel, just a stone's throw from the venue of the 2004 event.
Far from a memorable Olympic outing from an Irish perspective that particular year, as Andy Lee was the only boxer to qualify – another world champion in the making, however, went out in the round of 16 in Athens.
Ireland did take a gold medal home in the showjumping, yet, that was swiftly returned a year later after Cian O’Connor’s Waterford Crystal failed a horse doping test, while middle-distance runner Cathal Lombard missed out after testing positive for the illegal endurance-boosting hormone EPO before the Games.
As for DeGale, the Londoner would go on to secure the gold medal four years later at the Beijing Games, denying old foe and late friend Dubliner Darren Sutherland a place in the final.
The views from this Athenian hotel room take in the entire Olympic village, sitting pretty on the outskirts of this sprawling city, including the main stadium that was, up until recently, home to the Greece national football team.
Alas, Gus Poyet’s side have now decided to play their home games at the newly built AEK stadium, the OPAP Arena, which meant that the short stroll through the underground passageway to the Olympic Stadium was replaced by a late afternoon taxi ride across the busy city, where the driver seemed to know as much about how best to get there as his back-seat passengers.
Arriving just in time to listen to the always interesting Poyet, who spoke with pride about the job that was ongoing, rebuilding the one-time European champions into a side that could once again qualify for major tournaments.
The locals have voted with their feet over the past ten years in a city where club is king, thanks to the dominating Big Three of Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, and the aforementioned AEK.
Poyet does not expect the fans to come back until his team are in a position to qualify, however, he is certainly laying the foundations after winning their Nations League group to secure safe passage into the Euro 2024 play-offs next March.
A sun-kissed Stephen Kenny was next to arrive and the Ireland manager was looking relaxed and confident fresh from his sunny sojourn at the classy tourist resort of Antalya in Turkey, where his squad endured, and by all accounts, enjoyed the nine-day warm-weather training camp.
The theme throughout the build-up to this game has been one of a "historic away victory", which the manager believes is crucial to every successful qualifying campaign, citing famous away days in Scotland, Albania and Malta, among others, which proved crucial to the respective tournaments.
One might ponder, that an away victory in Paris or Amsterdam would resonate a lot louder when they write the history book on Euro 2024, however, we get Kenny's sentiment, that just like Poyet’s foundations, Ireland away wins in Athens are the building blocks for future successes.
A clean bill of health for the entire squad, most of whom have been on this six-week long and winding road to the Greek capital, and it would appear that the confidence within the camp has never been higher since Kenny took over the role.
"Ferguson mania", as was coined by one of the assembled media, did not escape the pre-match chats with the gaffer, who was happy to allow the hype to move along, describing young Evan as the in-form striker of the bunch of five in the squad.
No hints, however, in relation to who might play alongside the emerging striker in attack, with Adam Idah, perhaps, best placed to complement the Brighton boy who may be handed a free role in the forward unit to drop back, link-up and attack upon instinct.
The team then took off for their obligatory pre-match ramble around the hosting stadium as darkness fell slowly in the New Philadelphia region of the historic city.
Training for the team is usually pencilled in to coincide with the kick-off time of the game, but Ireland were out on the grass around 8pm local time, as opposed to the 9:45pm start tonight.
And it must be noted that by 9:45pm, meandering the surrounding streets of the OPAP Arena in search of a big yellow taxi, the cool calm conditions proved perfect for a game of football.
Matchday in Athens, and with such a wait for kick-off in this land that sits two hours ahead of the traditional time for Irish football matches, there was plenty of time and good cause to take a ramble – following yet another traffic-jammed taxi ride – to the home of civilisation.
Ancient Greece appears out of the klaxon-filled streets of the city centre and then, as they say o’er yonder in that other once great empire, all roads lead to the Acropolis.
And it would appear that it is not just mad dogs and Englishmen who go out in the midday sun, as throngs of tourists stumbled up the slippery stones of the ancient grounds towards the towering Parthenon temple on the hill.
Built in thanksgiving following the Hellenic victory over the Persian Empire almost 450 years before the birth of Jesus Christ; and while the current saviour of Irish football is unlikely to be feted in such adulation as the Greek gods, some appreciation of this pending "historic away victory" would certainly be appreciated.
Watch Greece v Republic of Ireland in the Euro 2024 qualifier on Friday night from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live radio commentary with Game On on 2fm
