According to some, it was the Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley who coined the phrase when he wrote: ‘When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.’
Critics claimed Riley’s success – he became a best seller and toured the world – was down to a poor education which meant that he spoke the language of the common man and, as such, was able to get his point across to the masses.
Riley passed away in 1916 at the age of 66, and so the chances of him imparting his wisdom to those who rule the roost at Premier League headquarters in Paddington are fairly remote.