The England manager Fabio Capello's explained why he decided to leave the Arsenal player Theo Walcott out of his 23 man World Cup Squad.
Speaking just hours after arriving at the team's South African base in Rustenburg, he shocked hardened hacks with his honesty.
"People were telling me I should see this Walcott so I did. But he just sat there and read poetry for 90 minutes. He was old as well; someone told me he was 80."
After a stunned silence and a heated exchange between Capello and England's Under-21's manager Stuart Pearce, the Italian apologised to the packed room.
"It looks like I was ill-informed and wasn't watching a footballer but the renown poet Derek Walcott. I did think it was strange no balls were involved."
In a related matter, Theo Walcott has tonight withdrawn his appliocation to become the next Oxford Professor of Poetry.