It's a little past 7pm, New Year’s Day, and kick-off is an hour away at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium. Lights inside the busy tunnel have been dimmed to a moody shade of red and Thomas Frank has spotted a familiar face.
The Tottenham bus had pulled in 55 minutes earlier but it’s only now that their manager has clapped eyes on the guy who replaced him in these parts.
‘Just let me slide through here a moment, I’ll be right back,’ says Frank, as he pauses the pre-match interview he was doing with Tottenham’s in-house media team.