Terrace talk: Man United - Nice guy Wenger finishes last one final time

It’s certainly been a week for unlikely bedfellows getting pally. Trump manhandled Macron; the two Koreans hugged; and then, most unexpectedly of all, Old Trafford embraced Arsene Wenger. Where once would rage ‘shooting by other means’ now reigned sentimental applause.

Of course, it was easy for Reds to behave so in yesterday’s circumstances. The harmless, toothless old lion was taking one last laboured traipse around the circus ring he once held spellbound, accompanied by two of his masters.

During the dull empty stretches of what was a lacklustre and largely meaningless game, it was hard not to drift back to the good old days, when a sighting of Wenger coming into Warwick Road’s range used to be the cue for frenzied forecourt excitement and not a little snarling loathing. Ah, those sweet hatreds of the turf; where would professional football be without you?