"The secret service would be best served by a transformative and dynamic leader from outside the agency," he concluded, describing such a leader as "someone with a fresh perspective, free from allegiances and without ties to what has consistently been described as a 'good old boys network'".
"A hundred years ago, when we were founded, people's allegiances were much more likely to be inherited rather than chosen," he said.
This article was amended on 4 April to correct the allegiances of those who surrounded Richard at his death.
By contrast, the uninhibited, brash and sexy Sun – created by Murdoch in company with his first choice as editor, Larry Lamb – caught a new individualistic mood among a working class that was beginning to question its former political and trades union allegiances.
The strongest criticisms by inspectors were aimed at Oldknow, where they found evidence that the primary school was riven with "split loyalties and allegiances" among staff.
So was he really an Arsenal fan? "Nah, that's a myth," he says with a wry grin, before admitting that the Arsenal supporters at Wembley will enjoy reminding him of his true allegiances.
So Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian Nobel laureate, might get the job of professor of poetry at Oxford University – except that he's 80, might not visit Oxford much, and his backers are starting to publicly shift their allegiances, to Simon Armitage or one of the other candidates.
Her charity had found some girls being offered to rival gangs to bolster allegiances or foster a truce.
The global, trans-historical span of her borrowed female imagery led some to accuse her of feminist "essentialism" – of assuming that the possession of biological femaleness trumped women's local, historical identities and allegiances, bringing all women together in a nice warm bath of female community and mutual understanding.
Whatever your club allegiances, they are scenes that should appal any fan, especially those who follow their team abroad and understand the risks that accompany going to certain countries.
"It truly belongs to people regardless of their party allegiances," Johnson said.
