THERE is a spurious argument for claiming that last season’s great moments – Chelsea, Sunderland, FA Cup quarter-finals – would never have happened without Aaron Mclean.

You’ll have to bear with me on this one.

Think back, if you can, to the first week of last season and the Capital One Cup first round at Morecambe.

There was little glamour in the occasion or the surroundings and the match itself was suitably scruffy – settled by the scruffiest of winning goals.

Billy Knott hoisted the ball into the mix where Mclean, on as a substitute, bundled it home in a pile-up on the floor.

The part of his anatomy the striker used to propel the ball over the line was hotly disputed. Morecambe appeared to have a strong case in their complaints that it was the right arm.

“He scores with his hand!” mocked the bank of away fans behind that goal, and they had the clearest view. Phil Parkinson tellingly would not let the media near the scorer afterwards to discuss the finer details of the finish.

But the ramifications of that goal, legitimate or otherwise, proved significant.

Without that, there would have been no Leeds at home in the next round and no Sky money from showing it live on TV.

Without that, the budget constraints after the much-anticipated windfall from a Tom Cleverley transfer never materialised would have piled on the pressure to flog off another asset to balance the books in January – probably James Hanson.

Without Hanson, would City have seriously got as far as the FA Cup third round? So that would have kyboshed the chances of keeping hold of the likes of Filipe Morais.

With all this, how could there possibly have been a trip to Stamford Bridge and the glory and riches that were reaped following that special afternoon?

So maybe, in a strange way, those eager to rubbish Mclean on his exit this week should at least acknowledge the role he played in launching a campaign that will once again go down in City folklore.

That apart, Mclean’s 17 months at Valley Parade will be remembered as a very expensive mistake; an unmitigated tale of under-achievement and one that came at a considerable cost.

City actually never lost when he got on the scoresheet. Unfortunately that did not happen often enough for a player at the top of their wage bill.

Six wins and a draw from the seven games out of 37 when he netted hardly made him the talismanic figure capable of filling the considerable boots of Nahki Wells.

Mclean was an engaging interviewee, entertaining and always ready with a smile. But he never matched up to the bravado he brought with him about emulating the free-scoring Bermudian.

Mclean and City never looked a good fit, on or off the field. But that happens in football – remember John McGinley?

The player blamed the system of play at times; the team will feel he rarely showed the predatory instincts of his predecessor.

Phil Parkinson hasn’t got too much wrong in his tenure as the sixth longest-serving boss in the country.

But every manager, even the great and good, will get it wrong in the transfer market at some point. Mclean topped Andy Gray as his biggest blunder.

The bustling forward could not be knocked for effort when on the pitch but he never looked like rediscovering the prolific form that had earned him so many plaudits in his Peterborough days.

It took him 11 games to get off the mark. Then an injury in the first days of pre-season, accompanied by inevitable suggestions that he had come back from the summer out of sorts, scuppered any chance of building on the momentum of finishing his first campaign with back-to-back goals.

Parkinson effectively cut his losses in October when Mclean was dropped from the squad, never to appear again.

Within a few weeks he was back at London Road – where he is expected to now decamp full-time on the player-coach dual role he took up when Dave Robertson was promoted to first-team manager from their academy.

Mclean and City had to go their separate ways. It was hard to imagine any kind of reconciliation if he had agreed to return under duress to see out the final year of his lucrative contract.

The figures from the settlement have been kept under wraps, confidentiality and all that, but both sides will feel that a bad deal all-round has worked out for the best.

Mclean has a very nice lump sum in his back pocket to go back down south; City are thought to have saved a considerable chunk of what they would have had to shell out if they had kept paying to the end of the deal 12 months from now.

Valley Parade awaits his possible return in Peterborough colours with interest.