Last year, the damage caused by the Manchester United players' bash ran to £41,000 for a damaged dance floor and the odd broken sculpture or two. This year, Rio Ferdinand's programme of Christmas entertainment could wipe millions of future United balance sheets.
By designing the timetable of Monday's events (lunchtime start at a casino, then pub, then hotel for their exclusive use) to achieve two simple ends: utter drunkenness and a "good time" with some girls, Mr Ferdinand set his sights low and scored a direct hit.
As subsequent front page headlines have shown, there are members of the United playing staff who are unable to stay within the limits of acceptable behaviour, and possibly the law, when confronted with torrents of free drink and admiring women.
Most of the players outside United's first team will never make the breakthrough, but they are still of enormous value to the club. The New York Yankees baseball team are considered experts at bringing players through from their "farm" teams, fully aware of their limitations, but talking up their prospects and giving them an occasional run out in order to significantly increase their trade value. United do the same.
Jonny Evans, the player at the centre of the allegations, will now be for ever associated with this week's events, something opposing fans will never tire of reminding him. The next couple of years will reveal what sort of player he is, but if he is ever sold, his damaged reputation can only reduce his value. And that's even before the accountants start assessing the damage to the Manchester United brand. United's new Saudi Arabian friends, for instance, are unlikely to be clapping their hands in delight as the party gossip filters through.
So Sir Alex can shout at Rio Ferdinand until he's run out of spit - what did he think was going to happen when a bunch of thick spoilt yobs "let off some steam"? But more importantly, which overinflated suit in the United corporate heirarchy allowed this hideous project to go ahead? You sir, are to blame.
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