Plenty of sound and fury, wailing and gnashing of teeth after Liverpool's fly-in-fly-out visit to Sydney for an exhibition game that drew responses verging from farcical to fantastic.
Liverpool's late arrival, on the morning of the game, was said to be disrespectful.
The fact that they also chose to field retired Reds legends like Steve McManaman and Steven Gerrard was also regarded as something of an insult to the local game.
Add to that hefty ticket prices and Liverpool disappearing straight afterwards with a healthy profit for what appeared to be little effort and the naysayers had plenty of ammunition to go to war with.
For most of my life I would have probably been in that camp too, for a host of reasons.
In general, I can't stand exhibition games: they mean nothing, they are often merely money making contrivances and few teams take them seriously, particularly when they come just a few days after the end of a gruelling English Premier League season.
No player is going to try that hard and risk injury, particularly when he has a brief off season to look forward to. The idea that fringe players can use such games to impress at this stage of proceedings is also laughable.
But now I have changed my mind.
Not because any of the above is no longer true.
Of course it is, particularly for these sort of post season tours; and certainly not because Liverpool were involved. They are one of the top English teams I like least - along with Arsenal, Chelsea and the Manchesters United and City. You would surely expect nothing less of a Tottenham fan!
But I have realised that having such a prescriptive view is pointless, not to say a trifle joyless.
After all, what harm does it do to people who want to see Liverpool - or any of these big foreign clubs play - turn out in their tens of thousands if they want to.
It's their money and they are entitled to spend it how they want.
Many of those in the 73, 000-plus crowd who turned up at ANZmay have followed Liverpool at a distance for decades, and this was one of the few chances they will get to see their heroes live.
For them, the fact that old stagers like McManaman and Gerrard, genuine Anfield superstars, were playing was probably a plus factor, not the negative it would be for a purist.
Plenty in the crowd may have been older migrants, Scousers (in this case) who last stood on the Kop as kids at Anfield in the 1960s or 1970s and had rarely had the chance to congregate in large numbers with like minded folk to share their reminiscences and relieve their youth.
Some at the stadium might even have come to see Sydney play, although the overwhelming evidence when teams with the following of Liverpool arrive and pull their dormant supporters out of the closet is that the Australian host seems like the away team.
There are those who argue that these sort of tours detract from the A League, or deprive the local football economy of money it somehow would have received.
Do they? How?
If the bulk of the crowd are so called Euro-snobs who only come out for these sort of matches there is nothing to lose, is there?
And is it not just possible that some fans' appetites may be whetted by the atmosphere experienced at a big game and that could persuade them to come to an A League match in the future.
What of the overall impact for the football and sports economy. Surely these tours do no harm?
Merchandise sales increase, shirt sales help underpin jobs for staff at sports suppliers, food outlets gain casual business, security and ground staff get extra shits, hotel rooms are sold, restaurants might write more covers, airlines probably see a spike in travel, public transport and car hire operators are also likely to get a boost in business while stadium advertisers get more bang for their buck.
Collectively A-League clubs have made millions of dollars in fees to play in these games while the FFA have seen their coffers swelled by sanction fees and TV rights.
And in a saturated media market these big-name tours do give soccer publicity at a time of year when the AFL and the NRL hold sway. Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and the Real Madrid galacticos were a much bigger deal when they were in Melbourne in 2015 than any footy stars, even forcing the AFL off the MCG for a weekend.
The next big touring club team due in Australia is Arsenal, who are also set to play Sydney and Western Sydney in July.
This trip will be a bit different. It's part of the Gunners pre-season, and no coach - presumably Arsene Wenger will still be at the helm - will want to waste the opportunity to try out players and tactical systems given the EPL kick off will just be a few weeks away.
Expect a full squad, a different atmosphere, more purpose, less celebration than Liverpool.
But me pay money to watch Arsenal anywhere other than White Hart Lane? You have to be joking ...
