Naturally enough, all eyes were on events at Wembley this evening.
But for those of you in this neck of the woods that have that No5 shirt saga close to their hearts, your time might have been better spent sneaking the odd glance or two up north – to the Robin Park Arena.
There's your starter for ten, tonight. Where exactly is the Robin Park Arena…
Well, it's in Newton. In the suburbs of Wigan. And it is where Wigan Ressies play their games.
Where, in theory, you would have expected everyone's favourite loan target, Fitz Hall, to be topping up his match fitness in this evening's clash with Middlesbrough's second string.
Only he wasn't. Latics boss Chris Hutchings threw two of his kids in – Andrew Pearson and Lewis Montrose. Hall was nowhere to be seen.
Cue the immediate speculation that the 26-year-old was on his way somewhere; ready to pop out at a Press conference somewhere in Championship land tomorrow.
Chat to Ferret's pal up at the JJB and he's not so sure. He reads it another way – that with none of Hutchings' senior professionals on duty, Hutchings was just keeping his powder dry for the crucial Premiership clash with Fulham on Saturday.
The only three boys of any note in action at Robin Park tonight were the two new boys – Salomon Olembe and Rachid Bouaouzan – and returning one-time City target Ryan Taylor who makes his first competitive outing since being injured in the last game of the season at Sheffield United.
Otherwise, it's powder dry time. Besides, my pal added, Hall is not exactly out of the picture altogether. As the player himself knows, there are only four senior centre-halves at the club. And that includes him.
Yes, Titus Bramble and 22-year-old Swede Andreas Granqvist might be the lads in possession, but after that there's only Emmerson Boyce. And Hall.
And Boyce could be in at left-back on Saturday as the gaffer juggles things around to cover for Kevin Kilbane's suspension.
All of which could leave Hall on the bench this weekend.
It was, I'm told, one of the reasons that he reportedly turned down a loan move to Charlton last week. That he wanted to stay at the JJB, wait for an injury and step back into the fray again.
His feeling was that going out on loan can swiftly see your career drift downwards. Out of Premiership sight, out of everyone's minds – that kind of thing.
If true, turning down a switch to Charlton may speak volumes. Hall is, after all, a Leytonstone boy; it must have had some appeal.
Either that or whether he felt that after his Palace playing days, stepping out at The Valley might not have been the smartest of career moves; that the locals would swiftly have been on his case if he ever put a foot wrong.
Either way, my man wasn't wholly convinced that Hall would be going anywhere right now; that if Granty does, indeed, finally fill that No5 shirt, 'One Size' won't be fitting all.
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