Norwich City chiefs will this week desperately tried to maintain that it was 'Business As Normal!' at Carrow Road – in the fervent hope that some of the dust would start to settle on whole, abortive Peter Cullum affair.
Having won and then apparently lost the affections of Britain's 40th richest man – and with it Cullum's proposed injection of ?20 million into Glenn Roeder's transfer kitty – the pressure will mount politically on the City board to prove they can still make a serious dent in this summer's transfer market minus those missing millions.
Slam, for example, Shola Ameobi in at one end of the team and bolt this weekend's latest transfer tip Dejan Stefanovic in at the other and some of the current bitterness and frustration may start to seep from the supporters' system.
But it promises to be a long and difficult road back for all concerned as those “?20 million…” headlines continue to haunt their every move.
Of course, the reality was never, ever as simple as the headlines suggested; that Cullum's insistence that his ?20 million injection came with control of the club attached merely opened a huge can of worms.
At its heart lay the expectation among some that the club's principal shareholder Delia mith anf her husband Michael Wynn Jones should simply 'give' their controlling interest in the Canaries to the man with ?1.7 billion to his name and walk away empty-handed from a club that they have invested ?9 million worth of their own money in over the last 12 years.
Among others, a reasonable compromise lay in Cullum covering Delia's costs – the couple simply take out what they have put in via a straight-forward ?30 a share offer from the 'King Of Deals'. It would, of course, then ensure that the club's army of small shareholders also got their own money back as Cullum set about turning the Canaries into Premiership contenders.
Do that and most people would walk away pretty happy; given the messageboard wrath that followed the painful end of Nigel Worthington's reign, the whole trauma of Peter Grant's year-long reign and now Cullum-gate, the quiet life that their season tickets in the City Stand would offer must look more and more appealing for Delia and her husband.
But it rests on Cullum recognising that the couple's 61.2% shareholding has value. If he refuses to budge from the position he established last autumn when the Canaries were five points adrift at the foot of the table, then the club is going precisely nowhere – locked into the same kind of bitter and poisonous stalemate that engulfed Birmingham City last season.
Cullum, of course, can afford to wait.
Having sowed the seed that there might be ?1.7 billion to play with, he can sit back in his Maidstone HQ and watch events unfold – gently turning up the heat as and when results and/or transfers start to seep away.
That certainly would be the way that the 'King Of Deals' would work; let them stew in their own pot of accusation and recrimination. And call me when the heat gets too much…
You suspect he hasn't made his ?1.7 billion fortune by going soft in mid-deal. There is very little in his track record to suggest that he will suddenly melt and say 'Look, take ?10 a share, walk away with ?3 million and I'll still put ?20 million into Glenn's palm… how about, that?'
All of which, therefore, puts ever greater pressure on Delia and Co to demonstrate that life can go on without Cullum's millions; that they can still hold their own with the usual Championship suspects on the transfer front.
Ameobi remains up for grabs. And the closer it gets to the start of the season, the more Kevin Keegan will want the 26-year-old on his way. At which point, given the lack of alternative suitors the price will start to fall.
Stefanovic is an interesting one given that he was briefly linked to the Canaries last summer before his ?1 million switch from Portsmouth to Fulham.
The strapping Serb was idolised among the Pompey faithful and alongside another of Worthington's long-time favourites – Linvoy Primus – proved the rock upon which Harry Redknapp's initial success was built; second-time round and Harry has stepped up a gear again with the Campbell/Distin show and, therefore, felt safe enough to let his long-time skipper go last summer.
The arrival of Roy Hodgson at the Cottage appears to have done him few favours – he last played a game for the Londoners in the middle of January. And was promptly sent off in the 0-0 FA Cup draw with Bristol Rovers.
A big, strong leader of men – with all those Balkan war stories, to boot – Stefanovic would certainly tick every box character-wise.
The one stumbling block to an early-stroke-easy arrival would be the nature of the Fulham beast under Mohamed Al-Fayed and the fact that Stefanovic's agent is oe Phil Smith.
Fresh from ushering another of his star clients – a certain Darren Huckerby – into a new life Stateside in the MLS with San Jose Earthquake, Smith knows all about Norwich. Just as Norwich know all about Smith.
As ever from now on, Stefanovic's potential arrival will be seen through the prism of Cullum's millions – that if he no-shows, then it'll be down to money. Norwich not offering enough; wouldn't have been a problem if Peter was in charge…
That's the legacy of the last fortnight; this huge expectation that the world would be a completely different place if Norwich City Football Club were now within the Towergate fold.
The reality, of course, might have been nothing like that: Ipswich's spending habits do not appear to have changed overnight since Marcus Evans – their very own International Man of Mystery – took charge; his grip tightening yet further this summer as David Sheepshanks was handed a non-executive chairman's role.
But reality always plays second fiddle to perception – the widespread perception is that the Norfolk club missed out on a golden opportunity last week.
And until the reality – of bright new, shiny players walking through the Colney door – starts to chip away at that damning perception, it is going to be long and difficult summer for all concerned.
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