Behind the scenes at Steve Evans' Rotherham United unveiling press conference

All that was needed to complete the picture was a Wembley backdrop and one of them deliriously whirling a tie above his head.

Big Steve was back. Back with the man with the big cigar.

Journalists had gathered in the top-floor boardroom at AESSEAL New York Stadium for the official unveiling of Steve Evans' second coming as boss of Rotherham United.

The manager sat at the top table alongside the man who's just appointed him again, club owner Tony Stewart.

Their affection for each other, their ease in each other's company, was evident.

It's been a rotten, miserable slog of a campaign: two previous bosses, too many defeats, too many people not caring, relegation from the Championship certain since December.

Stewart admitted he's been falling out of love with football this season. Evans, is here to change that, returning to the club he loves with three games left in which to make judgements and decisions for next term.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always lived in my career with expectation in my head,” the manager said. “We will challenge for promotion next season.

“I cannot promise we will get promotion - these are the conversations I had with my chairman last evening - but we will contest promotion for sure.

“We have a big job to do in the next two or three weeks analysing what we have got.”

To begin with, the pair, along with Raynor, took questions from the floor. A thousand camera clicks were going off in the background, telling you this was something more than a routine Friday afternoon.

Radio and press went first while TV hovered in the background waiting to broadcast live a little later on.

With those formalities over, what's known in the trade as ‘break-off interviews’ came next: the chance to get the main protagonists to yourself in a quiet corner and conduct a deeper, more intimate dive.

Evans won two promotions - one, famously, at Wembley - and kept the Millers in the Championship around a decade ago before a difference of opinion with Stewart (more on that coming in a separate story) sent him elsewhere.

“It’s fantastic to be here again,” he said. “It was something I always dreamed of from the minute I left. The chairman and I had spoken about it once or twice, but it had never been with stars aligned.

“Then, in the last day or so, the chairman said: ‘I’ve decided, with the support of the board, that the job is yours if you want it.’ I couldn’t say ‘yes’ quick enough. It’s like coming home.

“The chairman has expedited the move (from Stevenage) so I can have a proper assessment, not just of the players, but of the infrastructure and staffing structure and everything.

"We go forward with a very clean piece of paper, like last time when I arrived a few games before the end of a season.

“We’ve had an amazing welcome in the town, from getting stopped in the petrol station to people coming up to us in shops and restaurants.

“We just hope we can do our chairman, board and supporters justice and get them enjoying their football again.”

He looked casually smart in a light-blue shirt and cream chinos. The haircut was appropriately neat on a head slightly balder than the one I remembered. Ten years on, he's a grandad and the streaks have gone. So, too, it seems, has some of the anger that never used to be far away.

It was Stewart's turn to talk.

“Since Steve first left, we’ve always remained friends,” he said. “I’ve been to his family’s weddings and out for meals. We departed as friends on a technicality. Steve and Paul have always been successful and I’ve always admired them.

“Steve is committed to Rotherham and these are exciting times. We’ve been noted for going down from the Championship to League One and coming up again.

“We must be in the Guinness Book of Records for jumping backwards and forwards. Now it's about getting back in the Championship as soon as possible.”

A club tie suddenly appeared, fresh from the club shop, still in its cellophane wrapper.

Evans needed it for his next interview, the TV one down at pitchside.

There was no brandishing it in the air, as he so famously did in moments of success the first time around.

He's a more reflective figure these days. The intensity still burns, he's as compelling an orator as he ever was, but emanating from him is a calmness and control that wasn't always there in the past.

“Yes, he has changed a bit,” Raynor confirmed. “But his passion hasn't.”

Evans put on the tie and headed for the lift.

The chairman, meanwhile, lingered, chatting good-humouredly off the record for a fair old while. This was an afternoon for which he'd waited a long time and he was in no rush to leave.

He was relaxed, happy, throwing in some amusing anecdotes from his and Evans' past. I'd not seen him like this all season.

“I feel as though we have got our mojo back,” he'd said earlier. “I think we had lost that drive, passion, want and desire.”

He could easily have been talking about himself, not just the club.

As always, he was sharply attired. The black shoes - hand-made and expensive - sparkled.

Yet not as much as he did.