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.
