Only one manager in England has lifted more league titles over the last five years: Pep Guardiola, who will sit in the other dugout at Leyton Orient on Saturday.
Wellens drops this in with a glint, some mischievous relish. Eyebrows up, arms out, eyes lengthening slightly.
He is recalling a League Managers Association forum with Guardiola as its guest speaker and how, as a rookie coach back then, he broke the policy of a lifetime to request a picture.
‘It’s not me but he’s different,’ Wellens says, before suggesting the snap has some posterity value given their recent trophy hauls.