Sir Alex Ferguson, Tony Stewart and a couple of biscuits ... behind the scenes at Steve McClaren's Rotherham United unveiling press conference

After all, they won a treble and the Champions League together when they were at Manchester United back in 1999.

So, the words of the knight of the realm were uppermost in McClaren's thoughts as he was deciding whether to join Rotherham United.

The 65-year-old said: “I always remember Sir Alex saying to me: ‘When you go to a football club, don't look at the club, look at the owner.’”

McClaren was speaking at his press conference last Wednesday when he was unveiled as the holder of the newly-created position of head of football at AESSEAL New York Stadium.

Sitting alongside him was Tony Stewart; not technically the owner of the Millers these days after shifting his shares to son Richard, but still very much the man in charge as chairman.

The pair go back a long way - to the time when McClaren was eyeing the hot-seat during those heady days when Rotherham were a Championship club - and the warmth between them was evident.

They were almost like an old married couple. They didn't quite go as far as finishing each other's sentences, but did regularly lean on each other for confirmation of what they were saying.

“It was about three months ago, wasn't it, Steve?” “Yeah, yeah, about three months, Tony.”

Usually, these kind of events are held in the more auspicious reaches of New York: upstairs in one of the swanky corporate rooms or in the even plusher boardroom.

This time, though, it was a ground-floor gathering in the rather less salubrious media suite. Written press first then TV while radio waited in a room just down the corridor to have their turn later.

The reason for the new venue was, the posher parts of the stadium were being occupied by students taking their GCSE exams.

McClaren certainly passed his own test. It wasn't his first rodeo. He's held press conferences around the globe, so fielding questions from the Advertiser guy and the chap from the Yorkshire Post was hardly going to faze him.

“This is a proper club, and the fans appreciate hard work, honesty and resilience,” said the figure charged with leading the Millers out of League Two following their relegation.

“That is what this club needs to get back to where it was. In my research over the last two or three weeks, that's what I've heard from a lot of people. It's not going to be easy. It's a reset.”

Those quotes were part of a sincere, polished first answer - one that went on for several minutes - about why he'd chosen to take the Rotherham gig when other options were available.

He wasn't averse to a bit of spin, though, in a bid to emphasise the size of his task, claiming that only one team relegated from League One in the last five seasons had subsequently gone on to return to that division.

When I checked later, I had to go back only to 2025 to find a second.

He was more genuine about Stewart. “I've always liked Tony,” he said. “Tony's a proper owner (sic), a proper football man. And he saved this club, saved it for the community, for the fans.

“And I've always come here and loved the stadium, loved the atmosphere. It's not a place I've enjoyed coming to as a manager because they were always tough, hard games. I think this role is perfect for me at this stage of my career.”

It was a relatively relaxed affair. Stewart indulged in a bit of practised schmoozing beforehand, enjoying his moment in the limelight with the man who led the national squad 20 years go, and maintained a humorous touch throughout much of the proceedings.

“Just how much work have you got to do?” McClaren was asked.

“A lot. A lot,” came the reply.

“Piece of cake,” chipped in the tongue-in-cheek chairman.

The new man may be close to qualifying for his state pension, but he retains the athletic gait of the pro footballer he once was. He was wearing a suit but the rest of his attire was casual - a quarter-zip top and footwear somewhere between shoe and trainer - and carried himself very well for a man of his age.

Stewart, never less than dapper and looking 15 years younger than someone past his 80th birthday, appeared to have taken inspiration from a combination of the Millers' new home and jerseys and was a picture of red, white and blue. He was suffering from a sore throat so his outfit was a touch louder than his voice.

McClaren's arrival has been badged by the club as a restructuring of their footballing operation. However, it wasn't very long ago that recruitment chief Rob Scott was elevated to a similar title (director of football) only for the chairman to decide very quickly on a return to old ways.

Why the role is needed now but wasn't persevered with then was an issue that Stewart was quizzed on and didn't properly address.

He was more open about the worrying dip over the last three seasons, following that famous, decade-long golden spell earlier in his tenure, that has dropped Rotherham into the EFL's basement league.

”I have to say, this last season we've just finished, it's blown my brains out,” he said, allowing the mask of joviality to slip. “Up to (nearly) Christmas, we were looking good. Then we lost seven games on the trot and it just fell apart.

“The only reply I got to that was that we had nine first-team players out. Some players came back, some others came out. It was just incredible. It was like snakes and ladders. We went up the ladder and then we went down the snake.

“I've never experienced that in 18 years. To have a first half of the season that's positive and then the decline that we had ... I can't explain it.

Interview over, McClaren helped himself to a couple of biscuits and headed off to meet the Radio Sheffield crew.

Just ahead of him, the chairman was still finding League Two taking some digesting. You could almost feel his shock at finding himself back at the level where he started out in 2008 when he rescued the club from administration.

Another Sir Alex saying hung in the air.

‘Football. Bloody hell.’