Players don't necessarily need to get along to make successful teams. Take New Zealand's highly successful and lauded group through the 1980s. Anyone with knowledge of that time knows that group was not always a large, happy family. But they were (mostly) able to set aside differences on the park for a common cause.
So wicketkeeper Matt Prior is a bully. Graeme Swann, James Anderson and co were of similar ilk. They barked at players who dropped catches or misfielded. Crikey. Never heard of that before.
That Pietersen clearly didn't feel the love may say more about the man than those around him.
Terrific batsman, huge ego, a player who divided opinion like few others.
Former team boss Andy Flower was evidently a "mood hoover". Bet Pietersen didn't think of that on his own.
And any comments from the likes of Australian Ricky Ponting should immediately be discounted. How much time did he spend in the England dressing room, travelling on planes, parking up in hotels, in team meetings with those players?
Ponting's tuppence worth should be put where it belongs, in the round filing cabinet.
Wherever your sympathies lie, there's this: It's a cracking tale - albeit with loads of he said/they said - but don't take too much of it too seriously. This is, after all, a distinctly English affair.
There's legs in this too. Stand by for the other side. Prior, a garrulous sort, is promising to respond. Others may follow. Ding, ding, seconds out.
