Gordon Brown as Harold Wilson

If you thought this was an April Fool, think again.  Football analogies, once a favourite of Harold Wilson, have already become a key part of Brown’s strategy.

Here he is comparing Wayne Rooney’s injury with the economy:

After an injury you need support to recover, you need support to get back to match fitness, you need support to get back your full strength and then go on to lift the World Cup.

So with the economy - we're not back to full fitness, we need to maintain support.

If we try and jump off the treatment table as if nothing had happened we'll do more damage to the economy - and frankly that means we risk a double-dip recession.

It will not be long before Brown uses one of Wilson’s famous sound bites:

Have you ever noticed how we only win the World Cup under a Labour government?

Let’s hope Brown doesn't have a Gannex raincoat.