Amid the 2,001 ironies of today's dramatic developments at Carrow Road, one immediately stands out.
That having made one or two enemies with that Annual General Meeting performance in which he insisted that it was only his opinion that counted, not the supporters… it was the supporters' opinion that, in the end, counted for rather more than Glenn Roeder's.
The fury and the frustration both inside Carrow Road during last night's defeat to an otherwise hapless Charlton side and outside in the streets afterwards convinced the board that the relationship between the two parties had broken down to an irrevocable degree.
And other than sacking the fans, there was only one course of action open to them… time for the big 'Thumbs down!'
“We'd like to place on record our sincere gratitude and admiration for what Glenn and his staff achieved last season when they saved the club from relegation against the odds,” said club chairman Roger Munby as the news was announced in a short, official statement released on the club's website this lunchtime.
“However, this season the position has become untenable and it is with great regret that the Board has decided to take this step.
“We are in the process of deciding who will take charge of te team for Saturday's Champioship match against Barnsley at Carrow Road and a further announcement will be made about this in due course,” added Munby, with both first team coach Paul Stephenson and the just-arrived Adam Sadler following Roeder out of the door.
It promises to be a fraught 48 hours as the board seek to stabilise the ship ahead of the Tykes clash.
At the very least, they would have appear to have bought some time atmosphere-wise; Roeder and his team could easily have walked straight into the kind of poison and anger that greeted Nigel Worthington in his last managerial moment and that bitter home defeat by Burnley.
That prospect was clearly playing on the board's mind as they made today's pre-emptive strike and, for all Roeder's words of defiance last night, made him the second managerial casualty of 2009 after Walsall parted company with Jimmy Mullen.
It also gives them their greatest selection headache to date. Both their last two appointments were conducted in the relative calm of the autumn, where the in-coming chief had the better part of six weeks to work out for himself what was in the larder before heading into the January transfer window with one or two ideas in mind.
Whoever comes in now – be it on a short-term 'emergency' basis or in the full-time role – will have no such luxury.
Which is why all fingers will point towards someone with an existing, immediate knowledge of the club, the players and the staff.
Someone who will have watched more than the odd game at Carrow Road; which, in turn, demands that they be local and immediately available.
Which, again, leaves the list of potential 'interim' candidates down to no more than handful.
Bruce Rioch still enjoys a base in Norfolk and is a regular in the Carrow Road directors box; whether his relationship with the club's owners survived his exit as Bryan Hamilton and then chairman Bob Cooper arguably conspired against the one-time Gunners boss is another matter.
For good, old-fashioned, no-nonsense Yorkshire grit – and the most recent knowledge of just what makes that Colney dressing room 'tick' – ex-club skipper Craig Fleming could find himself handed a role; he is also big pals with a certain D Huckerby who has probably got a little time on his hands – as and when the pair aren't training together with Lowestoft.
The real wild card might be Worthington himself. Still based in North Norfolk, he might be employed by the Northern Ireland FA but it is hardly full-time.
He has let it be known to friends that he is itching for a return to club management. And whilst one or two might still see him as the root of all Norwich's Championship evils since their relegation from the top flight, he saved Leicester City's bacon when called in at the last minute by Milan Mandaric in the spring of 2006.
Having been overlooked for the full-time Foxes gig, it was a combination of Gary Megson, 'Mad Dog' Allen and Ian Holloway who then took Leicester down the following year.
Or else, Bryan Gunn is handed the reins. He is the senior Canary figure left in the building at Colney; the one with an immediate 'feel' for the dressing room; the one who could pick up the phone to Jamie Cureton and get him back down here in an instant – a hero's welcome all but guaranteed for the on-loan Canary striker whose veins have long pumped yellow-and-green.
That's what will be the board's first priority – easy PR wins.
Fleming in, Huckerby back, Cureton recalled… None of those are rocket science; all could be sorted out within 48 hours.
Strap yourself in, going to be quite a ride…
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