“David, people say to me, you must be ruthless to be a successful manager, even as the cuddly one in a dynamic management duo so frighteningly professional it would make Carlos the Jackal run off crying for his mum.

“For every good cop, there’s a bad cop stood behind him shining a lamp into your eyes and menacingly stubbing out cigarettes on his own tongue. Batman and Robin. Kane and Abel. Cheyne and Angel. And stood behind the bad cop? You don’t want to know.