Mauricio Pochettino sat forward and reminded everybody there that it had been five years since he was appointed the Tottenham Hotspur manager.
The date was May 27, the place was Tottenham’s training facility at Hotspur Way, in Bulls Cross, just as it had been in 2014, when Pochettino was named as successor to Tim Sherwood.
Even those words – Tim and Sherwood – seem remote from the club Spurs have become in the intervening years. They seem to represent the old Spurs way of doing things before Spurs became serial top-four finishes, occasional title challenger and now, Champions League finalists.
This has been done the old-fashioned way; coaching, improving the players, and instilling in them the belief that better days lay ahead.
"I was thinking today it was my best period here," Pochettino said on Monday. "Today, I signed a contract five years ago and this period is amazing for us."
There has been no sugar daddy lavishing spending on the squad. It’s a well-known fact by this stage that Spurs haven’t signed a single player since January 2018, when Lucas Moura came in from Paris St-Germain.
And it’s been during this five-year timeframe that Pochettino has gained recognition for allowing Spurs academy graduates to flourish in the first team, not least the captain, Harry Kane.
“He’s been massive,” the striker said of his manager earlier this week. “Since he took over, he’s had a plan to become one of the best teams in Europe and now we’re not far away from the biggest game in Europe and in our club’s history.
“He’s done a fantastic job, he’s a great manager. All the players want to fight and play and do everything for him.
“That’s the standards he’s set, you see the way the club is now, the training ground, the stadium, playing in Champions League finals, that was the plan and now it’s to win it, and step on and to go on to win more and more. It starts on Saturday.”
The first trophy may well come on Saturday but one would be forgiven for detecting a slight sensation around Spurs that rather than the start of a dominant era, this Champions League final would represent the culmination of Pochettino’s work here.
Pochettino’s reflective mood at the pre-Champions League final media day on Monday was part of it. He was in no mood to entertain an Italian reporter’s request for comment on whether or not he would be coaching in Serie A any time soon.
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“I think we have bigger things ahead to think about,” Pochettino said in reference to Saturday’s game. “I have nothing to worry about. I am not more important than the Champions League or the possibility to win a trophy. You ask about me but today the focus is 200 per cent on the final.
“Rumours are rumours and are there. After the final we will have time to talk, but today I am committed 200% to Tottenham.”
It was hardly the resounding “I’m staying” declaration that would have been welcomed by Spurs supporters. Indeed, around the time of the semi-final second leg against Ajax, Pochettino declared to reporters that winning the Champions League would represent the perfect closing to a five-year chapter with Spurs.
In that time, he has helped transform the entire ethos of the club and foster a belief both in his methods and in a hard-working collective identity.
Spurs may not have got the better of every opponent in this season’s Champions League for example, but they were there when it mattered. Whether it was a Hugo Lloris penalty save, a Fernando Llorente hip-flick or a Lucas Moura hat-trick, they have mastered the moments and that is a triumph of mentality.
“In life, or in your career, there is always some amazing meeting in terms of a person, and it’s been the case with Mauricio,” captain and World Cup winner Lloris says of the profound effect his manager has had upon him.
“He's been important for me and for everyone,” says Pochettino’s compatriot, Erik Lamela. ”I think the team started to grow so much when he arrived. I don't need to say this; the results say it's true.”
The togetherness of the Spurs squad has been a vital component all season long. There are key players of course and any team in the world would be impacted by the absence of a Kane or a Dele Alli.
But more than a reliance on individuals, Pochettino has managed to forge a unit out of his entire squad, with each one ready to step in and do a job.
There have been so many changes to the Spurs XI in the Champions League – there has been scarcely a senior player spared from an injury or suspension at one stage or another – and yet here they are.
The continuity has been a blessing for Spurs, but there certainly are issues in the in-tray of the manager, whether it’s Pochettino or not.
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Christian Eriksen has not yet signed a contract extension and there is only one year left on his current deal. Toby Alderweireld could well leave this summer too. Jan Vertonghen’s terms expire next year and there has been no progress there either.
The fact that Pochettino neglected to cover the departure of Mousa Dembele in January with a replacement – despite players being available – could well indicate that he sees recruitment as a job for the next manager.
“Obviously we don't know the full ins and outs and why the club hasn't signed anybody,” Danny Rose says.
“You can either take it that the manager has got full confidence in what he's worked with in the last two years, that he believes in you and doesn't want to bring in anyone to challenge for your position, or you can take it that nobody wants to join Tottenham, or the club hasn't been able to provide the funds to buy anyone.
“The whole squad has taken it as the manager believes in us, despite what's in the media and what I may have said in the past, that the manager needs to sign somebody. The manager believes in his way, we're all behind his way and looks what it's brought us."
Winning the Champions League might well be the perfect way to bid farewell. Having overseen a total reconstruction of the playing squad, the move into their new stadium and leaving Spurs as European champions, Pochettino might well ask himself what more can he do?