When Manchester United fans set off fireworks near Old Trafford to greet news that the Glazer family were putting the club up for sale, they probably did not envisage the drawn out and shadowy process that would follow for the next 11 months.
That process is finally coming to an end as Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS group closes in on a 25 percent stake of the club for a reported £1.4 billion ($1.7 bn) after Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani withdrew his bid.
At first glance, the outcome is far from satisfying. The Glazers remain in control and they are about to earn even more money from the cash cow they started farming 18 years ago, taking roughly double the amount £790m ($959m) they paid for the whole club in 2005 to sell off a quarter of it. And there is no guarantee that the injection of capital will be invested back into the club.
After almost a year of protests and updates of varying reliability, the much-derided Glazers will still own the club and United will still be heavily in debt. Protests against the owners are unlikely to wane after this long-awaited development.
However, there are reasons to be optimistic about INEOS' arrival and the fact they will be in charge of sporting matters. After a decade of blundering since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, United are finally set to be run by people who know what they are doing...