There was a moment, just a split-second, where the pressure was lifted as Kevin Phillips met the press for the first time since he was named as new manager of South Shields.
With members of the audio, visual and written media sat around a table, Phillips jokingly queried whether it was too late to get out of the agreement he had reached with Mariners chairman Geoff Thompson.
Both men smiled, there was a smattering of laughter from around the table from the press pack - but for the first time tension was broken.
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Before that presumably tongue-in-cheek comment, all of the talk had been of a surprise move into non-league football, scepticism over his suitability for the role and where the future could take him if he is a success in the Northern Premier League or not.
All of those doubts and concerns are not without foundation because, to be frank, there is major risk on both sides of the decision.
That is not to be overly negative about, what on the face of it, looks an exciting appointment which draws parallels with South Shields signing another former Sunderland favourite - Julio Arca - some seven years ago.
The duo will unquestionably be in contact over the coming days and weeks - and Phillips could do a lot worse than following the lead from the attitude his former Black Cats team-mate showed when he pulled on a South Shields shirt for the first time under Jon King.
Arca embraced the non-league game, he bought into the quirks of life at this level and thrust himself into the community that swelled with every passing week at Mariners Park.
There was no Premier League ego or attitude, just a professional outlook on life at a semi-professional level.
That is the challenge for Phillips and there can be no hang-ups over having to kick off a much-wanted managerial career in the Northern Premier League.
After all, it is not too long ago that he was seriously linked with the vacancy at Sunderland following Phil Parkinson’s departure from the Black Cats.
Rather than getting his dugout career under way on the touchline at a stadium where he enjoyed a goal-laden six-year spell, it will start in the more modest surroundings of Warrington Town’s Cantilever Park this weekend.
A first home game against a battle-hardened Witton Albion follows on Tuesday before a double-header against promotion rivals Matlock Town and Buxton.
His first five games are rounded off with a visit to North East rivals Morpeth Town, who have experienced just two defeats in all competitions since Craig Lynch took charge in September.
It is a baptism of fire to say the least and a brutal introduction of how life can be in non-league football’s third tier.
My advice - not that it will be needed - is to embrace it, enjoy it and follow Julio Arca’s example by displaying the attitude and standards that kept him at the top level for the vast majority of his career.
Intrigue, excitement, scepticism and concern - all are perfectly normal and expected as we wait to see how the surprising marriage of Kevin Phillips and South Shields will get under way.
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