I was going to start with that quote, which we drag up every time something controversial happens. But this time the moving finger didn’t move on; it got its rubber out and erased what seemed a cut and dried departure. Emiliano Martinez was, and is, staying after all.

There has, naturally, been a lot of sound and fury online about how Martinez has behaved and what kind of reception he’ll get from now on. If past events are anything to go by it will all be forgotten by the time the next match comes round – Savo, Lee Hendrie and Gareth Barry could tell you that. That’s the way of the world in football.

Martinez’s behaviour is less easy to fathom, which is hardly surprising considering we’re talking a player who’s turned shithousery into an artform. None of us really know what has happened between him, his agent, Villa and assorted other clubs between the end of last season and the beginning of September. The more outlandish conspiracy theories begin with that rush of blood at Old Trafford and continue from there. He might have wanted to go, he might not. Villa might have wanted him out early or waited to see what would happen first in trying to keep him. We don’t know.

What we do know is that for months the media have been pushing Martinez up the M6. A club who’ve been a joke for years, who are massively in debt and aren’t in Europe are still seen as a step up from one who are in Europe again, debt-free and progressing. That’s one of the things we’re up against.

Most of the others are concerned with keeping on the right side of rules that seem to change every time we manage to beat them. Trying to compete with the Big/Sky/TV Six is like kicking off with ten men, then if you’re not losing at half-time your players have their arms tied behind their backs. No matter who we want to sign, there’s always something to prevent it. The summer window might not have bene perfect but in the circumstances it was more or less the best we could do.

Marco Bizot was the first signing, and for a few hours might have thought he was going to be more important he first did. So far he’s looked okay and poor in equal measure, which is at least an upgrade on Robin Olsen.

The came Evann Guessand, who again hasn’t had enough of a run-out to see what he’s capable of. But he’s the right age and he’s not looked too bad wherever he’s played before

The others, the ones who came in on the final day of the window, are a bit better known. Victor Lindelof didn’t cost us anything apart from a signing-on fee and a presumably reduced wage from when he was at Old Trafford. As squad cover he might, with a bit of luck, be alright in an emergency and with even more luck help bring along one of our youngsters, or at least one of the few who aren’t out on loan.

Next in came Jadon Sancho. He was from the same place, although he’s not been there for a bit and he hasn’t been up to his full level for even longer. In fact, he made such a lack of impression at Chelsea last season that they paid to get rid of him, which isn’t exactly a vote of confidence but Marcus Rashford was much the same and if there’s one manager who can get the best out of an inconsistent maverick it’s the one we’ve got.

And then there’s Harvey Elliott. One of the most promising English youngsters, the Player of the Tournament in last summer’s European Under-21 Championships, he’s the type of signing that we should be looking at even if he didn’t take much scouting. A loan and a buy-back clause aren’t the best way to sign a player but again, these sort of deals are the best we can hope for at the moment.

We’ve got more options up front and a bit of depth to the squad, although there are players who’ve gone that would have done a job for us between now and May. Some clubs can keep them, we can’t. There were better players available who we could have signed but weren’t allowed to. Some clubs can buy them, we can’t.