It is one of the great football yarns, the tale of how Frank Worthington came within a hair's breadth of joining Bill Shankly's Liverpool in the summer of 1972.
The story was widely revisited in the days following the charismatic former England striker's death four years ago, and it is easy to see why, for in many ways it captures the essence of one of English football's most noted mavericks.
Yet it is also an episode tinged with sadness, a path not taken towards a door that would never open for Worthington, who counted Huddersfield Town, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers among the 24 clubs he represented in a career spanning more than a quarter of a century.