Twenty-four hours after what FA Cup historians will no doubt be obliged to refer to as The Battle of Ninian Park, Cardiff's chairman Sam Hammam was still disturbing David O'Leary's equilibrium.
Just a day after being restrained by his own chairman Peter Ridsdale from physically reinforcing his view that Hammam's habit of going walkabout during matches had provoked the militant bonehead wing of the Cardiff support to threaten his players, the Leeds manager arrived late at a press conference in the Yorkshire city to promote his new book.
The reason? He had had Hammam on the phone as he drove to the launch.
"No, he wasn't apologising," said O'Leary. "Sam just wanted to explain that he has written approval to walk round the ground. I just said to him I disagree with that."
Oh, to have been a fly on the polished leather upholstery of the O'Leary motor as that call was taken. After all, by his own admission, O'Leary "lost it" in the Ninian Park car park after the game. "I thank God I had my chairman with me," he said of the incident. "I was pulled away from a heated exchange."
Hammam has subsequently made it clear that he feels O'Leary was not so much spitting tacks as choking on sour grapes over the humiliation of being dumped from the FA Cup by a Second Division club.
"No, I lost with grace," said O'Leary of that accusation. "I wish Cardiff all the best, good luck to them. Where I am entitled to make a point is about protection. And in my view some of the things that went on yesterday (Sunday) reminded me of Istanbul. I said to Sam, you might have written authority but I don't think it's called for, and I don't think it is going to help."
He added: "Am I sorry about what was said?" he asked of the exchange of industrial language with Hammam. "No. I will always say things for the good of the game."
The Football Association will almost certainly allow Cardiff's momentous third-round win over Leeds United to stand. What the FA cannot permit is the possibility of the circumstances in which the tie was played being repeated.
Once the FA has studied the referee Andy D'Urso's report of the missile-throwing during the tie and investigated the ugly pitch invasion at the final whistle, which saw several Leeds players threatened, Cardiff will surely be put on probation.
Any further incidents of a similar nature at Ninian Park could lead to a deduction of league points and if they occur in the FA Cup, Cardiff should be thrown out of the competition and banned from further participation for at least a season.
It is in the FA's power to order a replay, as it did in 1985 after Burton Albion had lost 6-1 to Leicester City in a third-round match which had been switched to Derby County's Baseball Ground. Halfway through the game the Burton goalkeeper was laid out by an object thrown from the crowd and the tie was replayed at Coventry after the non-league club appealed, Leicester winning 1-0.
Similar repercussions followed Newcastle United's 4-3 defeat of Nottingham Forest at St James' Park in the 1974 quarter-finals. Forest had taken a 3-1 lead through a hotly disputed penalty before home fans invaded the pitch in an effort to get the match abandoned.
The ringleader was jailed for six months and Forest were granted a replay at Goodison Park on appeal. This finished goalless before Newcastle eventually went through 1-0.
However, the FA would find it hard to accept that Sunday's outcome was influenced by whatever struck the referee on the head with sufficient force for D'Urso to require treatment from the Leeds physio.
Yet when this sort of thing happens in European competitions UEFA often nullifies the result and demands a replay on neutral territory.
Few of those involved have emerged from Sunday's throwback to the dark hooligan-ridden days of the 70s and 80s with much credit. The most notable exceptions are the Cardiff players who certainly do not deserve to see the biggest FA Cup upset since Wrexham knocked out Arsenal in the third round 10 years ago overshadowed in this way.
