Thanksgiving weekend means that another week has passed where Sir Jim Ratcliffe hasn’t been able to take his place at Man United’s top table.
It’s unlikely to come as any surprise to supporters of the club who’ve been waiting for an age to see some type of takeover scenario come to fruition.
Until everything has been signed, sealed and delivered, fans would be forgiven for thinking that there could be an 11th hour hitch, although discussions do appear to be far enough down the line now for that not to be the case. It would simply seem to be a case of dotting the final i’s and crossing the t’s.
However, the longer term scenario for Sir Jim might not be as straightforward as he and everyone else was hoping for either.
“I assume he (Sir Jim) wouldn’t be coming in with 25 per cent and sporting control as the end goal,” David Ornstein said in a special Q&A for The Athletic (subscription required).
“That makes me think there will be a roadmap of sorts but, if so, I’m not sure if that will be formal, or not at this stage.
“The complexity and time it is taking to finalise the initial deal suggest any further steps will take way longer to put in place.”
Thoughts of any further business are, frankly, discussions that need to be had another time.
Sir Jim and his incoming team have a number of issues to concern themselves firstly, just in order to get the club back on an even keel in a sporting sense.
If they’re able to do so over the course of the next 12-18 months, then those discussions regarding a phased full takeover may be worthwhile.