The merry go round of the Manchester United takeover seems to have taken another turn with news that the deadline for bidders has been extended.
According to The Sun, Raine Group, who are acting for the Glazer family throughout this process, are keeping the deadline open until Friday in order that other potential bidders might be identified.
It’s an incredibly risky strategy and one that could backfire on the current owners, who are believed to want to eek out in the region of £6bn from the winning bidder – as long as they decide that they do actually want to sell the Premier League giant.
Could this entire process have been a bluff all along? To entice bids of a certain level to prove to various funding organisations that it was possible to receive a world record bid, but then using that knowledge and information as financial leverage for their own ends.
Given how brazen the Glazer family have seemed to be before with regards to their ownership, nothing would surprise you.
However, the club are at a potentially significant moment in their storied history and if what is expected to be huge progress is taken away, the long-suffering United support will surely come out in force once more to protest.
It may not come to that if the Glazers are actually offered what they believe is the market value, because it will surely be impossible to turn down such an eye-watering amount.