The press list at Gresty Road made for impressive reading.

All the national newspapers were represented and many recognisable names from the football reporting world.

It was a glittering cast for a bog-standard midweek game in League Two; like Hollywood A-listers turning up at the village panto.

Of course, most did not bother in the end. With the notable exception of one of the milder tabloids and a BBC television crew, the majority gave it a late swerve.

The circus never came to town.

There was no story, of course. The late withdrawal of assistant referee Sian Massey made their trip to Staffordshire pointless – why else would you bother with Crewe against City?

So it was just the usual faces going through the usual job. Local papers and radios did their business without the national sideshow clogging up the seats.

In a way, us remaining few felt a little bit cheated at missing our 15 minutes of fame. But it was probably for the best.

Certainly, in the case of the lineswoman (if you can call her that) it was the right call to shun the spotlight. Massey would have been on a hiding to nothing.

The whole Skygate episode may have moved on but she remains a reluctant central figure. For the time being, every wave of the flag will be analysed, scrutinised and commented upon up and down the country.

She is hot news until the next big scandal or salacious celebrity saga breaks. So best to keep her head down until the storm passes over.

Of course it is totally unfair. What is her part in this whole soap opera? Oh yeah, she had the audacity to do her job right.

A fully-qualified assistant referee carries out her instructions well in a Premier League game. The contentious call over Liverpool’s first goal at Wolves was correctly judged to be onside.

No story.

At least that’s how it should be. But instead she has been swept up in the typhoon that has blown Andy Gray and Richard Keys out of their cushy seats in the studio.

The cynic in me thinks that Sky jumped on the opportunity to jettison Gray.

At a time when the satellite giant are blowing the trumpet for reaching their 20th birthday, here is the chance to freshen up their football crew. Gray was going a bit stale so let’s get rid and promote the Jamie Redknapp generation.

Thanks to all this furore it’s become a tap-in. The simplest way possible to bin the old guard.

And, of course, it keeps the company image squeaky clean. ITV sacked Ron Atkinson for racism; Sky follow suit for sexism.

The decision has won universal approval with the chattering classes. More importantly for Sky, their cosy relationship with the Premier League remains untainted.

Everyone’s a winner. Well except for the “Sky two”.

And a certain official who simply wants to get on with what she’s good at.

Blimey, we could have done with a sensible hand on Tuesday when referee Kevin Wright tried to send off the wrong City player.

But given the bigger picture, the decision to spare Massey another night in the media headlights was a common sense one. Though it just shows what a mixed-up world we live in.