Then, of course, was that marvellous Inter Milan saga where they decided that they were going to stay at home and spend the rest of their lives wrapped up in cotton wool. When universal condemnation inevitably followed they decided they would come after all. Eventually even the likes of Adriano decided (admittedly a couple of days after everyone else) that he looked like a bit of an idiot, so flew over and joined the tour himself.
And now our final friendly of the summer, and perhaps one of the most unusual in our history, seems likely to hit the dustbin. Ever since the London bombings there were suggestions that Iran's visit was likely to be one that might arouse a testosterone overload in the knuckle-dragging members of our support - a concern which, despite their previous game with QPR passing without disturbance, led to Iran cancelling their friendly against Millwall planned for this weekend.
Although whoever thought that Millwall vs Iran sounded like a good idea in the first place has got to be a little bit dense.
There's been no official confirmation from our side yet but from the Asian World Cup qualifiers the message seems quite clear. "Our official people spoke with the police. They said everything is ok but nobody can give a hundred per cent guarantee of the players' safety and the decision was that it is better we go home," said manager Branko Ivankovic, but added cryptically, "But this is football and you never know what can happen tomorrow."
If this does turn out to be true then thankfully it's not quite as short notice as Inter's original decision was so we might be able to set up a replacement game or persuade our visitors that we're not all that bad after all. Just another spanner in the works though which we could really do without.