"Sven-Goran Eriksson could be named Manchester City’s new manager within the next 24 hours. It is understood the former England coach is poised to sign a lucrative contract at Eastlands."
So reported the Press Association at 6.25pm yesterday evening.
Now, I know this has nothing whatever to do with the West Midlands and it goes against my promise to myself and to you, the reader, to try to avoid mentioning football in this tiny corner of cyberspace, but this one is just so rich with possibilities that I cannot help myself.
I surely cannot be the only football watcher in the country who is asking: "Are they mad?"
If I belonged to the blue half of Manchester (the half whose replica shirts you actually see being worn if you visit the city), I would be worried enough about the club being owned by former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Shinawatra, who has lived abroad since being ousted in a military coup last year, has launched an £81million takeover bid for City. He has also had more than £1billion in assets frozen by the current Thai government as part of an investigation into corruption allegations.
Prosecutors in Thailand have recently filed corruption charges against him.
He's not Randy Lerner, then. Not even David Sullivan and the Gold brothers, whose colourful background made Birmingham City fans the butt of endless jokes when they first arrived in the Midlands. Rather, someone about whom the Premier League are nervously dusting down their 'fit and proper person' test.
But not only are City fans contemplating Mr Shinawatra's arrival; they now have to cope with the thought of 'Svennis' at the helm.
The man who took Theo Walcott to the World Cup finals on a hunch. The man who spent as much time on the front pages of the tabloids as the back pages during his tenure as England manager.
The man most England fans couldn't wait to see the back of when he left after the 2006 World Cup.
The man who left the England job by mutual consent over 12 months ago, yet was still being paid several thousand pounds per day by the Football Association until very recently.
If I was a City fan, that would make me very worried. Can you imagine the reception he'll get at away grounds? Can you imagine the relish with which the tabloid press will chart every City loss, every bad decision, every ill-chosen or flippant word? Given Eriksson's history, there should be more than enough of those.
England managers, of course, have a dreadful record after leaving the job. Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters will tell City fans all about Glenn Hoddle, while Kevin Keegan's shortcomings were even more obvious outside the confines of the national role.
Yet Eriksson, apparently, still thinks he can do a job for someone at club level. Well, maybe he can and given the total lack of humility which characterised his time in charge of the national team, his chutzpah may not be surprising.
But in England? At a club which has a reputation for being about as stable as Eriksson's relationship with the fragrant Nancy Dell'Olio?
Hasn't his ubiquitous agent, Athole Still, pointed out the potential pitfalls? Or does Eriksson think he has to come back to club management in England to show us all we were wrong to criticise him during the World Cup? It's not as if he needs the money, with all that cash from the FA sitting in his bank account.
Either way, it rather makes me wish I was my counterpart on the Manchester Evening News. Chronicling events at Eastlands next season could be hugely entertaining. Not necessarily positive, but certainly entertaining.