Doomed Tony was on borrowed time

ASKED about the source of his genius, Albert Einstein said he believed wholly in “intuition and inspiration”. Gut instinct, in other words.

That ephemeral, intangible sense that a theory is right or wrong, that a risk should be taken or avoided. To flee from danger or charge into the lions’ den.

Listening to those instincts can be valuable. Martin Edwards, the former Manchester United chairman, was poised to sell the club to Michael Knighton for £20m in 1989, only to pull the plug after he and Alex Ferguson watched the property developer performing flashy pre-match keep-ups on the Old Trafford pitch.

“I was horrified,” Edwards admitted. “Absolutely horrified. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I kept saying to myself, ‘What the hell have I done?’. I realized that I’d made a big mistake.”

It was nothing specific, but they were proved right. Carlisle United later sank into administration under Knighton’s stewardship. United became the richest club on the planet.

Treacherous