The “fire” took Di Matteo into management. First at MK Dons, where he took over in the summer of 2008 and finished third in League One in his first season, and then at West Bromwich Albion, where he won promotion into the Premier League, with bright, attacking football, only to be abruptly sacked in February. There are scars from that but, also, bemusement. So what went wrong?