Hot on the heels of his mature assessment of ManUre's domestic & Euro competition ("we're better'n any of 'em, especially since Christmas"), his sudden interest in doing right by Bolton, his avuncular warnings to Arsene about confidence, and his insecurity over the failure of AW to belly up to bar like one of the lads, this latest sortie into the very pages he had sworn in a fit of pique to ignore earlier in the season might be interpreted by some [cynics! - Ed.] as yet another desperate straw-clutching toy-flinging foot-stomping sulk.

However, Arseweb cautions its readers, interpreting all of these actions as evidence that AF has lost the plot serves only to reinforce stereotypes -- stereotypes which all too often bar pensionable red-faced paranoiac (but deserving) Scotsmen from reaching the audience they crave.

So spare a thought for the lonely man with the stopwatch. After all, he may win nothing despite having the best record since Christmas (that is other than Arsenal and Kylie Minogue). But at least he'll be able to say he took the high road and refused to be lured into petty small-minded slanging and hare-brained pseudo-Machiavellian "ploys."

No one else will say that. But he'll be able to.