But enough of this introspection and doom-mongering; let’s call up yet another arch-philosopher, Ian Dury, and find reasons to be cheerful. Who will ever forget that week in March, when Real Madrid and Manchester United were destroyed in quick succession, the latter humiliated on their own ground?

A week later, the rout of Aston Villa brought our goals tally to 13 in three games, against some of the best sides in Europe.

Doubles over the Red Babies and churlish Chelsea provided conclusive proof that we can live with the best, and even our failures were glorious: the rest of the country marvelled at our resilience as we threatened to overturn Chelsea’s first-leg lead from the Champions League quarter-final and traded goals with Arshavin at Anfield.

Newcastle United were lucky to concede just five at St James’; and late comebacks became commonplace both home and away, with injury-time winners at Manchester City and Portsmouth among the most memorable.

Throw in Benayoun’s last-gasp effort at Fulham, when we really started to believe, and we’ve had our fair share of matches this season which will live in our memories long after the upset of seeing United equal our titles haul.

The mess of statistics you’ll by now be familiar with brook no argument: the number of defeats, the unbeaten home record, the goals scored; they all point to a highly-successful season. The painful reality however, is that the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea have not so much raised the bar, but strapped it to the head of a giraffe.

Wearing stilts.

Excellence is not enough; you have to strive for perfection. Which means that Rafa can afford no more mistakes in recruiting the high-quality additions we need to take that final step towards turning potential into achievement.