THE philosopher Plato – as opposed to some other Plato you might know – told a tale about a group of prisoners in a cave who were chained up so that they could only ever see a blank wall.

On that wall they observed shadows of what was going on behind them, and in essence those shadows became their reality.

Now his opinions on the transfer system in the ancient Greek football league are unknown, but still the allegory about the cave wall and the prisoners holds up in the modern game.

You’ve probably gathered already that the fans are the prisoners, while the action at the mouth of the cave – that which they can never directly observe – is what goes on in reality between football clubs, players and their agents. The cave wall is the press releases and the interviews emanating from those sources, and from which the supporters try to piece together what’s really going on.

For instance, David Moyes is casting a shadow that says Everton have no intention of selling Joleon Lescott to Manchester City. Is that the same conversation that is going on behind the prisoners’ backs though?

The latest reports suggest that Lescott is going to go to Moyes and veritably beg for permission to speak to Mark Hughes. Do we really believe that the Blues’ boss and his most highly-prized asset have yet to even have a little chat about this situation?