Pagan, totally with you in the second part of you post mate.
The angle I was coming from related to the timing and approach. If shaw had got himself dressed (knowing he wasn’t going to get a run out) and started chewing away at the Pasty, then I don’t think such fuss would have been made (I’m not even taking the bet into consideration). At least from a visible point of view, people would assume he himself is done for the day and ready to wind down.
As it happens, the moment saw him with a kit with is totally at the level of a kickabout with your mates. Why I’ve reasonated with the figure of speech in ‘taking the gloss off’ is because that moment (in my view) brought right back the perception of Sutton United – ‘pub team’ and all the other lark coming with it.
Even from a natural David-Goliath, Sutton deserved the credit in the account put up from them plus above all, for a non-league outfit, they’ve reached even further than Liverpool. My own thinking is that the focus of merit has otherwise switched to a moment of Wayne Shaw and eating a Pie/Pasty (whatever it was) during the game (reason why I’ve highlighted this in bold and why it’s caused a frenzy).
In context, it’s refreshing to see the minnows and generally teams outside the Prem excel and be given (by rights) the recognition and the media coverage.
Cheers