As Martin O'Neill spoke to the media on the Tolka Park turf on Tuesday evening, one would be forgiven for not knowing it was his first time doing so since being announced as Celtic's new permanent manager in June.
"There's been no time whatsoever to even enjoy that, absolutely none," he said. "It's just been on top of us almost immediately. I didn't honestly think I'd be here."
It took Celtic over a fortnight after O'Neill's appointment to confirm that key members of his coaching team, Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham, would be sticking around for the new season.
"All this thing about the backroom staff, that is totally down to me delaying, seriously," O'Neill explained.
"It was my fault as much as anything else because there were roles going elsewhere.
"If a new manager were to step into the football club, obviously he'd want his own staff and things like that. It was me delaying to see whether I wanted to do it or not – that was one of the reasons."
After landing in Faro, O'Neill will put his players through their paces in the searing Portuguese sunshine.
The warm weather training camp culminates in a friendly against Sporting CP at Estadio Algarve next Tuesday evening.
Camilo Duran is expected to join up with the Celtic squad in Portugal, alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The club are in talks with the agents of both Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi about securing their services for the new campaign.
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