Thanks, all !!
For now I will adopt the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" method. I think the pedal end of the cable might be wearing out as it is plastic/nylon. I'll deal with that later. It has been 300,000 mile for this cable !!!
I detached the clutch lever end at the tranny and reset the self-adjuster. It actually worked quite well to adjust the free play.
I would like to go back to the manual adjuster, but that's low on the list for now.