Tony Currie was a symbol of the post-Revie transformation of Leeds United from a clinical winning machine to something more relaxed, and much less effective. Nicer hair, taller floodlights, no more trophies. But what Don Revie had drilled into his players, they now drilled into Tony Currie.
An experienced Premier League striker who has scored two consecutive seasons in double figures and played and scored for England, who just needs to stay fit and recover the form he showed under Carlo Ancelotti for the next few years to become the prime of his career — and he's free?
Bill Fotherby was keen to stress that this wasn't a spur of the moment urge. Buying Paul Gascoigne was the culmination of a plan that began when Howard Wilkinson took over at Leeds in 1988 and made headlines by taking his ball-clutching nemesis, Vinnie Jones, to Division Two.
Every part of this match was untraditional, bordering on blasphemic. A lot of this feels like what a lot of people absolutely do not want football to be like, but then when football is like this, it starts to feel quite fun.
The main show came from Costas Kapitanis. The Champions League had been the Peacocks' aim for a decade, or three, and achieving it meant remembering the bad times Leeds had in Europe in the 1970s.
Gordon Strachan had been worth two players to Leeds, but Rubén Sosa could be the one to replace him. But he would cost two player's salaries.
That solid outfield nine with their lone striker and their height for set-pieces could be just the thing for survival. But what if it's not fun?
Still and always footballers will yawn through the presentation, listen to a coach babbling down the phone, and then do what they want anyway.
Given his translator had instructions to fight an MRI machine rather than let it scan his legs, Leeds had a near miss with Tomáš Skuhravý.
As football develops its technical side, one thing becomes clearer: it's really better watched there, with a beer.