Even in the competitive field of modern football, public-relations exercises do not come much more disastrous than Joe Kinnear's decision to declare his appointment as Newcastle United director of football in a radio interview on Monday night.
His performance, pre-empting the club's official announcement of a deal cooked up quietly with club owner Mike Ashley, managed to alienate players and insult supporters and provide huge amusement to the rest of us.
Where to start? Asked if he had a personal message for supporters who doubt his credentials, the usual platitudes did not appear to cross his mind.
He said: "If they want to sit down and argue with me, some of them are talking out their backsides, a load of tosh and I'm not accepting it.
"It's as simple as that. I've certainly got more intelligence than them, that's for sure."
As for the players in whose careers his views will now be pivotal, he struggled to pronounce some of their names.
Yohan Cabaye became 'Yohn Kebab' while the Ameobi brothers were dubbed the "Amamobis".
Sammy Ameobi made his feelings clear with a tweet following the interview that read: "Wow at least get my name right."
As well as offering a string of factually incorrect statements regarding his own playing and managerial record, and erroneously claiming the credit for signing goalkeeper Tim Krul, he also managed to mispronounce the name of Derek Llambias, Newcastle's managing director, calling him "Lambeezee".
Arguably most memorably of all, he also coined a new phrase that is likely to stick with him. Asked if the criticism upset him he said: "It's water off a duck's arse."
In the sanitised world of modern sport, Kinnear's directness could be seen as refreshing.
His return promises to liven up the Premier League for the media if no-one else.
This is a man, remember, who in his brief spell as Newcastle manager in 2008 opened a press conference just a week into the job by calling a journalist present a "****".
But while the laughter peels out in Sunderland, of more concern to Newcastle fans will be what Ashley is up to.
Even without the bizarre interview, Kinnear's appointment would be a contentious decision.
The former Wimbledon manager, as he pointed out repeatedly on Monday night, has enjoyed a long career, but few beyond his closest circle thought much of it lay ahead.
Ashley of course does not subscribe to conventional wisdom, and this appointment appears to have caught the club hierarchy by surprise, Mr Lambeezzee included.
It has also re-opened divisions with supporters, a theme of Ashley's time in charge.
The strain first emerged following Kinnear's appointment in 2008, which coincided with Denis Wise's ill-starred tenure as director of football and saw the trio dubbed the 'Cockney Mafia'.
Supporters came to mistrust their motives and the tension led Ashley to put the club up for sale and tout the naming rights for St James's Park, practically a violation of sacred ground for Geordies.
The lack of a buyer, and Alan Pardew's success in taking the club to 5th place in 2011-12, repaired relations.
Pardew was rewarded with an eight-year contract, another eccentric decision, but even the odd decline of the last nine months, which saw Newcastle slump to 16th did not fatally undermine the mood on Tyneside.
But it has plainly dented Ashley's faith in Pardew, perhaps because of concerns over the haul of French January signings that were reported to have destabilised the dressing room.
Newcastle's response to those reports was to ban the journalist responsible, always a sign of a thin-skinned, vulnerable institution.
Kinnear's appointment is unlikely to herald a charm offensive with the media.
The wider question is if it will leave relationships within the club, and crucially in the dressing room, equally damaged.
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