With A-level results being released today, thousands of teenagers will tonight be celebrating the confirmation of their place at university.
But for those who didn’t get what they wanted, clearing is now their only hope of legitimately delaying getting a job for another three years.
Don’t get me wrong, clearing is great, but it’s very much plan B.
Clearing does not exist in football. Not in name at least.
However, as the transfer window enters its final fortnight, there are many players who haven’t yet got the moves they wanted and are therefore now perhaps inclined to lower their expectations in order to avoid another term of doing nothing.
The prime example is Mario Balotelli.
His Liverpool career has looked done and dusted for a long time, but a just couple of months ago he was still aiming high – really high – with talk of the Ballon d’Or even coming out of his mouth.
Balotelli was quoted by Eurosport as saying: “On the scale of 0 to 10, I stopped at five, but I’ll get to 10 eventually. I want to get there. I will win the Ballon d’Or.”
Now he must surely have accepted that he needs to think smaller. Clearing seems to have presented him with a loan move to Wolves, who Sky Sports claim are the favourites to secure his signature this summer.
The Championship would be mugs to offer him a place, but his name, rather than his ability, make him an attractive proposition to ambitious owners.