After a week of hunting moles instead of goals, treason with reason, a shoulder barge and questions over those in charge, Newcastle United finally return to the football on Sunday.
The fact all the above took place during what was supposed to be a quiet week - when Steve Bruce afforded his players three days off - exposes the tensions that exist within a fractured dressing-room.
Bruce is the cause of the division and Sunday's lunchtime kick-off at West Brom is a chance for those who remain behind him to put a disastrous week behind all of them.