A university student has completed his 12,000 word dissertation on a topic we can all get behind - Rory Delap's long throw-ins.
University of Aberdeen student George Innes took to Twitter to pose with his MSc Applied Statistics dissertation, as many students do after finally submitting.
However, a closer look will reveal the title of the study which is, "Blissful Ignorance: the Butterfly Effect's place in Chaos Theory".
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Sounds simple enough so far, but the description reads: "A theoretical study into how the two goals scored by Stoke City straight from Rory Delap's long throws in their 3-2 loss against Everton on the 14th of September 2008 directly led to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley ceasing trading as investment banks on the 21st of September 2008."
Yes, we desperately want to read it as much as you do and it will be going online once it is graded.
George explained exclusively to SPORTbible: "Well I had actually chosen the title before having concrete, or should I say extremely tenuous, links between the two events.
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"There were a few links I knew I could work from, but there was a bit of blind faith involved. I worked from the two events until I met somewhere in the middle."
You'd assume that any university tutors would scoff at the idea for a final year project - but George added that he thinks the originality earned him some praise.
"Luckily for them most of the content is numbers and theory that they work with daily. Had the 12,498 words been mainly praise for Delap's technique or about how [Phil] Jagielka's positioning for the own goal was to blame I'm sure they might have kicked up a fuss.
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"Even then though, I think they thought of it as quite original. Thankfully we had free reigns of the topic and subject and we've ended up here."
He then revealed that he had other ideas for his dissertation before deciding Delap's time in the Premier League was 'more of a pull'.
"I'm a big football fan so when I had got my choices down to a few options I knew I wanted to write about it. It was also probably the most absurd.
"Another option was linking Staples opening their first British store in April of 1993 to a hotel in Scarborough getting swept into the sea by a landslide a few months later. In my opinion Rory Delap's long throws bringing the world economy to its knees was more of a pull."
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Despite his fondness of Delap and the remarkable long throws, George isn't actually a Stoke City fan himself.
"I'm Aberdeen born and bred so naturally I am an Aberdeen fan, although I have nothing against Stoke. I've never supported an English club but have soft spots for certain ones that change every few years with the rotation of players."
The document, which is a grand total of 12,498 words, has caught the eye of many football fans on Twitter - as well as Rory Delap himself.
At first the former Irish international didn't know what to make of his involvement in the project, but he did quip that he was hoping to get a doctorate out of it.
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It's not everyday that you have an ex-pro acknowledge your work and George remarked that his reaction was a fitting end to his university degree.
"Well I only have him to thank. Him, and the people in charge of allowing people with £35 in the bank to take out mortgages on a £230,000 house. But to see him acknowledge it with utter confusion felt like the perfect end to the dissertation saga. Those throws are a thing of legend, once every three months someone brings them up over a pint.
"This is for you Rory."
Featured Image Credit: PA Images & @GmbH___/TwitterTopics: Football News, Football, Premier League, Everton, Stoke City
