Patrick Vieira describes the prospect of one day managing Manchester City as “the fairy tale story” but, for the moment, the dream of succeeding Pep Guardiola is on hold as the conversation revolves around more earthy realities. Vieira has just completed his first season in management, with City’s sister club New York City FC in the MLS, a campaign that has been an education on numerous fronts. On account of MLS rules dictating that teams can only take four private charter flights per season, Vieira has become intimately acquainted with trekking around the US in the company of a full squad on packed commercial airlines with the general population. And there is a broad smile on his face as the World Cup winner - one of the most recognisable footballers of his generation - recalls some of his encounters during almost 30 such journeys over an eight month period.

“I was sat next to a guy on one flight who asked me if I was some sort of sports player or coach,” explained Vieira, whose gilded playing career yielded three Premier League crowns with Arsenal, as many Serie A titles with Inter Milan and a European Championship as well as that World Cup with France.