The Manchester United Under-12s were playing on their designated pitch at the club's Carrington training base when three young spectators noticed some activity on the adjacent first-team training pitch.
Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen were strolling out to practice free-kicks with the goalkeeping coach Richard Hartis and the kids' eyes were now trained on the dead-ball specialists perfecting their technique rather than their own match.
The football director John Murtough, a spectator for the U12 game, encouraged the lads to stroll over to look and learn. Fernandes spotted the three goggle-eyed schoolboys and beckoned them onto the pitch for an ad-hoc tutorial in ball-striking.
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Eventually, one of the boys' mothers noticed he had wandered off and shouted his name.
"I've got to pick your brother up!"
Amid the fits of laughter, the boy pretended not to hear the command and Murtough politely suggested he be allowed to stay a little longer.
"Oh no, he's got a party to go to," the mother replied.
She hollered the boy's name again and he reluctantly skulked off a pitch graced by Fernandes and Eriksen, both cackling with laughter, and back to his unremitting mother. His two friends were also chuckling.
The atmosphere at United's training complex, housed in a quiet borough of Trafford, is more convivial than many of those who line up on Birch Road in the hope of a selfie and signed shirt might think.
The senior figures in the club's hierarchy ensure they are on first-name terms with the staff and a well-placed source says Murtough consciously greets any passers-by, whether close by or at a distance, even if in mid-conversation.
It is not uncommon for first-teamers to be on the sidelines for academy games. In between recovering from injury, Harry Maguire watched Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo's sons in the Under-14s in October and club great Bryan Robson has observed the women's team's training sessions.
Infamously, an in-house MUTV cheerleader derided "all of the rubbish that must get written" in an interview with Jose Mourinho and gushed "every time I come to Carrington, it's such a relaxed place to be, it's an enjoyable place to be here". Six weeks later, Mourinho was filmed admonishing Paul Pogba prior to a training session.
There was a dressing room row days before the thrashing by Brentford in August and while his teammates were on the grass preparing for Chelsea, a disciplined Cristiano Ronaldo was in the gym.
United players discovered Ronaldo had conducted his unauthorised interview with Piers Morgan on their flight back from Fulham via the plane's WiFi. A source said they were "disappointed, rather than angry" and were quickly of the opinion he should not play for the club again.
Now Ronaldo won't have to dodge the fans on the country lane approaching United's base, the atmosphere will be more harmonious. A source close to one of the senior players said how impressed the squad was by Ten Hag's handling of Ronaldo over his refusal to come on against Tottenham. Another dressing room source noted how much Ronaldo's teammates disapproved of him dodging two games to effectively file divorce through his most productive 90 minutes all season with Morgan.
That overshadowed United's victory over Fulham, although Ten Hag had travelled to Nyom in Switzerland for the Uefa coaches' convention. By the time he reported back at Carrington, he was overdue a hug from the revered receptionist Kath Phipps, who continues her tradition of embracing the manager after victory.
Phipps, 81, and a club servant of almost 55 years, is the first face you see when you pass through the double glass doors of the main building at Carrington.
Met the lovely Kath Phipps. She has been at the club for 54 years.
She started working for Sir Matt Busby in 1968.. pic.twitter.com/BADfRoyt7n— Jan Aage Fjørtoft (@JanAageFjortoft)
At the top of the stairs, the European Cup, the Europa League trophy, the FA Cup and the Premier League crown are encased for visitors to admire before they are summoned for their rendezvous.
Legends of the club are stencilled onto the walls of the labyrinthine corridors. In the briefing room Ten Hag insisted on revamping at the cost of £200,000, an entire wall is a dedicated mosaic to matchgoers to remind the players who they are playing for.
The room was upgraded swiftly while United were away on their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia to ensure all attendants had clear visibility of presentations. Ten Hag usually holds a meeting each morning with staff to discuss the day's training arrangements and pre-match meetings are also conducted in the mini-lecture theatre.
Darren Fletcher's technical director role has been refined as the conduit between the first team and the academy, recommending which prodigy to promote to first-team training to offset an absent senior player. Ten Hag's assistant, Mitchell van der Gaag, usually consults Fletcher.
Steve McClaren's return to a training complex he coached at almost 23 years ago has been warmly greeted and sources close to players say they "love" his presence.
Exit the academy building, cross one road, follow the straight pathway beneath the neon 'Manchester United' sign, past a tranquil fountain, cross another road and towards the sign marked 'Welcome' and you have arrived - literally and, in some cases, metaphorically.
The fountain is a symbolic presence at a club renowned for its youth and the names of the club's academy graduates are faintly glazed onto it. The next talent who debuts will be the 245th.
United's plush canteen is unrecognisable from the Ikea-furnished grammar school-style canteen that greeted the players upon their return from the Club World Championship in Brazil in January 2000. Refurbished earlier this year, the menu changes depending on whether it is a recovery day and has incorporated international cuisine to the delight of the overseas players.
Mags Mernagh, the development director who oversaw the construction of Leicester's state-of-the-art training complex, has her own office and has been direct in identifying areas of improvement. There are plans to build a hub by the junior pitches for parents and relatives to congregate by the academy building.
Its exterior now bears the faces of graduates male and female, from Roger Byrne to Ella Toone. Inside, those who made the transition from youth team to first team are immortalised with black-and-white images in their teens accompanied by their first-team guise in colour.
Such recognition is worth missing a party for.
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