Judging by Darlow's occasional, generally unconvincing, appearances under previous managers it seemed wishful thinking but, instead, the former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper has been little short of brilliant.
If a player paid £250,000 a week refuses to pitch in to the biggest match in the club's recent history when asked by the manager, it seems a breach of his contract fundamental enough to warrant City terminating it.
I daren't write off a new game completely after only a month of playing, but, as with Football Manager, it seems to have been decided that realism at the expense of fun is a fair exchange.
Yet no two raised arms are ever quite the same, and despite the hysteria surrounding Rooney's misbehaviour – as predicted by United's manager – it seems idle to pretend, as many have sought to do, that this particular assault was a potential jaw-breaker or cynical attempt to hospitalise an opponent.
"We run a common sense business and when clubs change their playing squads to suit a new manager, it seems completely wrong to us.
Although, with United forced to play down a report that Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal has agreed to become the new manager, it seems increasingly likely it will be just four matches.
"After speaking to the manager it seemed the right place to go to," he told BBC Essex.
"This came out of the blue for me but, once I'd come and had a look at the training facilities and met the manager, it seemed like the right decision for me and my family," added Long.
Although it should be pointed out that Suzuki is a Japanese company, and I was speaking with their Australian marketing manager, it seemed reasonable that Lewis would know what he's talking about.
