While those on the inside of Matfen Hall’s oak-panelled Morning Room looked into a window of Newcastle United’s future – new stadiums, training grounds, commercial deals - a couple of fellas on the outside cleaned the glass.
Given the sensitivity of what was being presented on screens in the ground-floor conference suite, it felt like an oversight by the management of this five-star country hotel.
Consider, too, the presence of Yasir Al Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who last week kept company with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.