Unless you're a regular reader of the English press, it's not simple to define Sir Alex's mind games beyond the fact they are the catch-all explanation for whenever United comes from behind to win the title.
First he argued laches, the legal term meaning Lemelson had waited too long to press claims over his bar-code reader supposedly invented in the early 1950s.
Along the way a friendly favor or two may be exchanged, the press ethic stipulating that any good turn not be in the form of a free pass that cheats the reader of full and fair coverage.