Emma Hayes emerged from the tunnel, in the shadow of her Chelsea players, and immediately retrieved a woolly hat.
She dragged it over her ears and, with a snood covering her nose and mouth, took a seat among a row of quilted jackets and skin-tight tracksuits.
But any hopes the Chelsea boss held of sneaking out of the spotlight were always in vain.
Not after this week. What started with tentative reports linking her with AFC Wimbledon spiralled into a ferocious debate about the standing of women’s football — and the treatment of one of its crown jewels.