HINDSIGHT'S SUCH A WONDERFUL THING!

DANNY Cowley spent 15 years as PE teacher, and those icy days on the playing fields of Essex are not easily forgotten.

- CHRIS DUNLAVY

That much was obvious when the Huddersfield Town boss was tackled by an 11-year-old girl during a recent post-match press conference.

Warm, honest, uncondescending. Cowley had that kid beaming. And ever the teacher, he finished with an educational message.

“Keep working at school and make sure you get your qualifications,” he said. “Then maybe you can come back and be a journalist one day. It’s really easy. All you have to do is sit on your computer, drink tea and you’ve always, always got hindsight on your side.”

Touche, Danny! Hindsight is indeed a writer’s accomplice, sprinkling clarity and logic over the otherwise arbitrary gloop of professional sport.

Newcastle’s collapse in 1995-96 is routinely attributed to gung-ho naivety, a crap defence and Kevin Keegan’s susceptibility to the mind games of Alex Ferguson. It is a tale repeated with such frequency that it is now accepted fact.

But what if Peter Schmeichel hadn’t produced the game of his life in Manchester United’s 1-0 robbery (sorry, victory) at St James’ Park?

What if Graham Fenton – who scored just 13 times in seven Premier League seasons -– had not netted a late three-minute brace to sink the Toon at Ewood Park?

Had serendipity altered those events, or anyone of a million others, the title might have gone to the north-east and the narrative would be completely different.