It might have been the eve of Neil Lennon's greatest achievement as a manager but he still found the time to offer some support to an old pal.
Lennon's Celtic take on Ross County at home this weekend and John Hughes will be in the opposing dugout after replacing Stuart Kettlewell.
The Staggies boss was sacked on Saturday night in a call that surprised the Parkhead boss - and he's thankful Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond weren't so quick to pull the trigger in Glasgow's east end.
Lennon knows it's an unavoidable pitfall in the life of a football manager.
After a damaging 2-0 defeat in the Betfred Cup to County last month, many would have predicted it would be the Hoops with a new man in place by the time the sides met again.
And so Lennon reckons some boards would do well not to listen to the "outside noise", such as the protests outside Celtic Park that have died down since the club arrested their recent slump with three wins on the bounce and a Scottish Cup to boot.
Lennon said: "I was surprised, I thought he did a great job there. I spoke to him on Saturday night to wish him well.
"I knew how much the job meant to him and how much Ross County meant to him as well.
"The one thing you're guaranteed in this job is the sack at some stage so he's earned his stripes and I'm sure he'll come back again.
"But you're right, the job is very volatile, particularly in this day and age it's more volatile than ever.
"Thankfully, my own board haven't listened to the outside noise and we've got a bit of catching up to do and some great things to still try to achieve.
"So we're very focused on that now."
