Now we know why Hoddle had to go. It wasn’t just his comments: the ex-England manager had the effrontery to make them just as the Government was preparing to launch its campaign fighting discrimination against disabled people.
That could explain why sports minister Tony Banks never left our TVs for two days, and why Tony Blair felt compelled to make his views known to the nation.
And as for minister for disabled people Margaret Hodge at the DFEE - well, at the precise moment on Tuesday that the FA was deliberating Hod’s future, she was urging the nation to join the campaign against discrimination at a meeting of top businesspeople. There could be only one outcome.