COMMENT: It was a throw back. Reminiscent of when we were all introduced to Gianfranco Zola. There he was. Antonio Conte. The new Chelsea manager.
He was humble, apologising for his broken English. Generous, with some answers prepared for the media in written form. And engaging, with that bright, dazzling smile. A real charmer.
But yesterday we also saw the game face. When the Italian members of the media quizzed their former Azzuri coach, the smile disappeared. As did the stumbling. Conte was all business.
And he has to be, given what he's inherited. This squad is strictly mid-table. The apologists can bang on about Jose Mourinho and his apparent 'self-destructive' ways. But there's no escaping the fact, that even under Guus Hiddink, this lot couldn't finish in the top half of the table.
The best Hiddink could say of his return was "at least we weren't relegated". That's it. Now it's Conte's turn.
And as he's found since taking the job, Chelsea's influence in the transfer market is on the wane.
Conte wanted to make Radja Nainggolan, the Roma midfielder, his first signing. But that's now dead in the water. Three bids were tabled - and rejected by the Giallorossi board. The ground has been tested regarding a return for big Rom Lukaku. But Everton, under new ownership, are in no need of selling. And the £65 million Farhad Moshiri has insisted Roman Abramovich pay is too rich even for the Chelsea owner.
In Naples, Aurelio de Laurentiis, the Napoli president, is playing hard-ball over Kalidou Koulibaly. That final €40 million offer rejected by Roma for Nainggolan was in turn tabled to ADL - and received the same response. The movie mogul wants €65 million to sell. And even that may not be enough if someone is willing to match the €94 million buyout clause in Gonzalo Higuain's contract.
The crazy thing is that all three deals were there to be done. All three players were prepared to leave. They had gone public with their plans. Yet, Chelsea haven't been able to get any of them over the line.
Michy Batshuayi has arrived from Olympique Marseille. But this was no walk in the park. Chelsea had been talking with the Belgian for at least a month. He wanted the deal to happen. And in the end, it was his will, more than any canny work from Chelsea's side, which was the deciding factor. West Ham, Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Juventus all matched - or bettered - Chelsea's offer in the space of 24 hours. There was nothing smooth with this one. It was a mad scramble. Effectively, West Ham and Palace had forced Chelsea back to the negotiating table. They were being led around by the nose. Never in real control.
Leonardo Bonucci to Chelsea should be a done deal. Bonucci has spent almost his entire career connected to Conte in one way or another. Either with Juve or Italy. The centre-half's move to Stamford Bridge should be a lock. Yet, if he is to leave Turin, the good money in Italy is on Manchester City being his next destination. Given their history, that City are even being mentioned, let alone now regarded as Bonucci's favoured choice, is baffling. Or is it?
Abramovich has cleared out the coaching staff, even reluctantly accepting Conte's insistence that Christophe Lollichon, the club's goalkeeper coach, be moved on for his own man, Gianluca Spinelli. But nothing has changed in the front office. Papy Djilobodji. Michael Hector. Alexandre Pato... those responsible for such deals are still pulling the strings.
Even the most ardent supporters of Chelsea's recruitment staff must be concerned. What's changed? Has anything improved? It was Mourinho's intervention that convinced Pedro to choose Chelsea ahead of Manchester United 12 months ago. At the same time, while the then Blues manager was on the phone, messrs Emenalo and Granovskaia (Michael and Marina) were closing a deal for Abdul Rahman Baba. Augsburg raked in £21.7m for the Ghanaian. Pedro cost Abramovich £21m.
Conte offered a little hint of his frustration yesterday. "You can see that we have signed only Batshuayi," he conceded. It's clear, the Italian was expecting more than just the Belgian before he took training this week.
Maybe it was his broken English, but when it came to his transfer plans, it all sounded a bit hit-and-miss: "But we are ready. We are talking within the club and we know the team needs to reinforce. In the coming days we can buy one, two, three, I don't know how many players."
Contrast that to Mourinho last week, "four specialist signings", "we have two, is the third done? No? Well, we will soon have three".
Something is clearly broken at Chelsea. He's been championed by the likes of Bonucci as the great motivator, a tactical genius. But a coach is only as good as his players. And in Conte's case, he risks only being as good as his recruitment staff.
INJURY TIME
It's no loan deal. Andy Myers has LEFT Chelsea to join the coaching staff at Vitesse Arnhem.
As Mo Allach, Vitesse's football director, explained, Myers could easily have stayed on the U21/U19 staff at Chelsea. But he left to take up a one-year deal with Vitesse. As a free agent. There's no contract waiting for the former fullback back at Cobham. He's jumped into the deep end - alone.
Myers will be on Henk Fraser's senior coaching panel. It's a big step up from youth football. But it was a move initiated by Vitesse. Chelsea haven't 'imposed' Myers on Allach and Fraser. He was essentially head-hunted by Vitesse for the job.
Of course, the relationship between the two clubs helped Allach in his decision-making. But that was only because he was able to get to know Myers and his work through the alliance. The Englishman is there on merit.
