Mark Hughes' understandable dismay at the end of last weekend's Manchester derby was compounded last night when a leaked statement from The Referees Association revealed the joke shared between the game's fourth official and Sir Alex Ferguson at the final whistle (97th minute).
"It just wasn't funny", said a despondent Hughes after the game. "The situation would have been laughable if it wasn't so serious, and the joke was just rubbish" he added, although he would not share the joke with the press.
Speculation had been gathering about the nature of the banter shared between the two men on Sunday at Old Trafford, amid rumours that the official hadn't yet heard the one about the frog with the twitch and the speech impediment.
The fact that City boss, Hughes has remained tight-lipped about the comments has, in turn, sparked rumours that the subject matter of the joke may have been inappropriate for 2009 such as the one about the blind Pakistani, the Jewish weightlifter and the gay giraffe in the tent.
Albino lip-reader, Dr Oral Effluvia, was drafted in quickly to observe the incident in slow motion but also refused to elaborate.
She said: "I suppose it all depends on your sense of humour but I agree with Mr Hughes in that it wasn't really all that funny and not worth repeating."
The FA released a statement on the incident which read: "It really is nothing to get that worked up about. It was an innocuous comment shared between two people who found it mutually amusing. The FA has now underlined and full-stopped the whole affair."
An independent inquiry is now under way and funding has been found to sponsor a group of top comedy boffins to undertake a series of tests in Scotland and Wales to see what makes the average man on the street lose bladder control.
A series of carefully selected jokes will be related to members of the public in a bid to piece together the possible nature of the joke imparted on Sunday, although critics are predicting inaccurate results if any joke about a Frenchman coming to some form of harm is used, those of course being universally hilarious.
The report containing all the jokes used, their differing effects on the two nations and the conclusions drawn as to Sir Alex's quip will be published the day before City take on United at Eastlands in April.
A Welshman, a Scotsman and a referee walk into a bar and the barman says: "Is this your poodle…?"
Answers on a postcard…