He thanked the X Factor host, Dermot O'Leary, and Caroline Flack, the presenter of its ITV2 spin-off show The Xtra Factor, before appearing briefly to forget the name of the show's new co-host, Matt Richardson.
Their return to the elite in 2013 was played out under another three managers and via a play-off success over Brighton & Hove Albion that was briefly overshadowed by "Poogate".
The game was twice suspended, briefly in the first half after a large inflatable banana was thrown on to the pitch and for around 15 minutes after the interval because of objects hurled from the stands.
At 1.26pm, by which time the crowds had been waiting for about two hours, the 53-year-old Oscar winner and the 36-year-old barrister emerged from their taxi and, after briefly waving, went inside the city hall.
At the height of Cleggmania in April 2010 the party reached the giddy heights of 33% in a YouGov poll, and briefly took first place ahead of both the Tories and Labour.
The Essendon star appeared dazed by the clash and was briefly off the field.
Campbell briefly succeeded Kennedy before Clegg assumed the leadership in 2007.
I want to be cheerful about Bradford, but the truth is that it looked a sadder place than when I stayed there briefly 30 years ago (and it was troubled enough then).
Grade also attempted to revitalise ITV's content division with a big-name hiring, Dawn Airey, who stayed only briefly, opting to take the role of chief executive and chairman at Channel 5. ITV declined to comment.
The debate between the two raged briefly, but six months on there is no doubt which side are in the ascendant.
Richard Grenell, a longtime US spokesman at the United Nations who was briefly a national security spokesman for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, said Clinton was, ironically, in a singularly vulnerable spot on foreign policy among the potential candidates.
