Amid all the rumours and half-truths emanating from Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon there was no suggestion that the home side's dressingroom door had become detached from its hinges nor any hint that what was once a glass mirror was now a thousand pieces on the floor. Paolo Di Canio finally had his dangerously combustible temper under control.
The same could not be said for Patrick Vieira, another player with so much to offer the game but who too is never more than a couple of steps away from the next explosive outburst. At the end of this mad, sad affair the Arsenal midfielder appeared to direct abusive hand-signs at the Wednesday supporters and was alleged to have hit a police officer in the tunnel.
Clearly Di Canio has guaranteed himself a long ban with his disgraceful two-handed assault on referee Paul Alcock, having just been shown the red card for his violent clash with Martin Keown. As part of its investigation the Football Association will also study the evidence against Vieira and he too may be the subject of serious sanction.
English football, so willing to embrace "Continental" flair and charisma, is paying a price for that open-door policy because many of the newcomers too easily fly off the handle. Where Di Canio and Vieira now rampage, so too did Eric Cantona before them.
Like the former Manchester United hothead, who received an eight-month ban for his flying kick at a Crystal Palace supporter in 1995, there can be no excuse for Di Canio's outrage, no matter the provocation that he alluded to as he made his angry way off the field, cursing and gesturing and brushing aside his own manager's attempt to placate him.
Wednesday immediately suspended their star attacker for an indefinite period until the FA has decided what punishment to impose. It is a matter of doubt whether we will see the tempermental Italian in the Premiership again.
"He totally lost it for a split second and I don't know what was going through his head," said Danny Wilson. "We immediately suspended him so that people understand that we recognise the severity of the incident, and we will back the FA in whatever they choose to do."
After a recent public falling-out with Di Canio, Wilson had made efforts to heal the breach and only 24 hours before this game declared that peace had broken out.
He admitted he felt betrayed by what went on but was more concerned at the damage his player had done to the game and the handicap he left his team-mates, who nevertheless went on to inflict Arsenal's first defeat of the season through a last-minute goal.
The 44th-minute uproar came after Vieira, hounded by Wim Jonk outside the Arsenal penalty area, reacted tetchily to the Dutchman tugging on his shirt and bowled him over. Players descended on the scene from all corners and Di Canio and Keown began grappling like schoolchildren in the playground. The Italian was the first to be shown the red card and reacted by pushing the Kent official to the ground.
It could be argued that Keown was unlucky to go too, that he was merely acting as peacemaker. Yet fending off his opposite number with a raised forearm while holding on to the neck of his shirt cannot further the cause of peace and Alcock was right to show him the red card as well.
It was a great shame that the unseemly episode completely overshadowed a contest which in the second half, with more space in which to play, became a wonderfully free-flowing contest with goalscoring chances at both ends.
The goalkeepers were magnificent, Kevin Pressman blocking Ray Parlour's early surge, extending a leg to deny Dennis Bergkamp and then plunging to his right to divert Nicolas Anelka's low shot, and Alex Manninger making an acrobatic stop from Emerson Thome, who thought he had headed Wednesday in front.
Wednesday's substitute Lee Briscoe then missed from a far simpler opening but was spared any lasting embarrassment when in the 90th minute he delicately flighted a dipper beyond David Seaman's stand-in. It was a goal which deserved to monopolise the post-match discussion but it became incidental to football's latest controversy.
Sheffield Wed: Pressman, Atherton, Jonk (Magilton 90), Walker, Booth (Humphreys 20), Di Canio, Cobian, Hinchcliffe, Thome, Rudi, Alexandersson (Briscoe 58). Subs Not Used: Clarke, Barrett. Sent Off: Di Canio (44). Booked: Thome. Goals: Briscoe 89.
Arsenal: Manninger, Winterburn, Vieira, Adams, Vivas, Anelka, Bergkamp, Overmars (Bould 45), Keown, Parlour (Ljungberg 77), Petit (Hughes 77). Subs Not Used: Garde, Taylor. Sent Off: Keown (44). Booked: Winterburn, Vivas, Vieira.
Referee: P Alcock (Halstead).
