Manchester United have inadvertently let the cat out of the bag vis-a-vis their likely appointment of departing Everton boss David Moyes to fill the not inconsiderable boots of Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of their north west rivals.
Moyes has already signalled his intent to switch sides and, for a time, Manchester United did likewise – after an over enthusiastic Facebook post was published reading ‘Send your personal welcome to our new manager David Moyes.’
Replete with a UnitedWelcome hashtag and banner image this was swiftly deleted with United issuing a statement claiming that they did not know who wrote the post or why.
Everton were more forthcoming however and issued the following statement: "Everton can confirm that David Moyes will leave the club at the end of the season.
"The manager met chairman Bill Kenwright early yesterday evening and confirmed his desire to join Manchester United.
It appears United are keen to leave their door open for the consideration of rival candidates and are in no rush to fill the newly sprung void at the top.
Fergie's resignation has already proven to be a major social media event, generating a mammoth 6m tweets within just 24 hours of its announcement.