A shrewd move that will save taxpayers millions, or a blunder that will forever haunt city fathers?

The announcement by Portsmouth City Council, owners of the iconic Spinnaker Tower, that they have sold the image rights of the waterfront structure to Emirates airline looked at first like a sure fire thing.

After all, built at a whopping cost, the tower almost bankrupted Portsmouth local authority. Raking back some of the estimated £20m taxpayers’ cash that was spent on Spinnaker through this £3.5m deal is surely a good thing.

The fact the tower will be painted red and white, the colours of Emirates but also the colours of Southampton FC, hardly matters, does it?

A few chortles, yes, and no doubt some raised eyebrows among Portsmouth fans who are more used to seeing blue for their team and their city.

However, such sniggers and feigned outrage will pass.

But this paper might suggest that image is all, and our neighbours down the coast might just rue the day they opted to create a towering beacon in their midst that appears to celebrate their rival city and its football team.

For Southampton, envious of the tower’s undoubted WOW factor, there is then some satisfaction in seeing our rivals left seeing red.