The relief around Chelsea fans will be palpable as one of the weirdest, most stressful and uncertain periods in the Blues' history comes to a welcome end.
Waking up to the news of the UK Government's approval of the sale was not an overwhelming shock, like many things in the football news cycle we are briefed ahead of time before the official confirmation. But that did not lessen the collective sigh of relief many who love Chelsea will have today.
There's a new spring in our step, even though the boredom of no matches till July may set in, the hope and intrigue over a new chapter in the 117-year history of the West London club should pack enough into a transformative summer.
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It feels pretty apt that Thursday will mark exactly three months since Roman Abramovich initially released a statement telling fans that he would be "giving trustees of Chelsea's charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC."
On the eve of the Carabao Cup final, it certainly rocked supporters and quickly dominated the conversations in a pub near Paddington as we all prepared to make our trip to Wembley for the over 120-minute clash with Liverpool. By the time we returned to the same pub almost three months later for the FA Cup final, the whole complexion of Chelsea's future had changed.
Three days after February's final, Abramovich announced his intention to sell the club after nearly 20 years of ownership. Only eight days later, Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This impacted Chelsea, the club shop was closed and employees were sent home. Any plans for the summer were halted, and contract negotiations paused.
Stamford Bridge would only contain season ticket holders for the majority of the remaining league games, creating a strange and downbeat atmosphere. Whilst the mood on the pitch altered, the mood off it only increased stress. Conflicting stories predicted the end of the club should the sale not be completed before the licence expires on the May 31, or spark concern over potential owners that could win Raine Group's bidding process.
There were online and in-person protests against The Ricketts Family bid, there were extensive profiles on every interested party, some promising lavish spending, others accidentally releasing their location on Twitter.
Despite the common belief that we don't know who will buy a club until they are at the stadium shaking hands, this process was played out in the open. By the time it was announced ahead of the Wolves game that Todd Boehly's consortium had been chosen as the preferred bidder, we already had extensive knowledge of the American billionaire.
We had read the profile pieces on the LA Dodgers even without much knowledge of baseball, we had watched his interviews with Yahoo, and we had looked into Hansjorg Wyss, Jonathan Goldstein and Clearlake. There was little to unpack, time was always going to make this a uniquely fast and public process, one that despite some scaremongering has kept fans in the loop.
The eventual £4.25bn sale makes a complete mockery of early claims that Chelsea would do well to get £2bn for a club who had recently won their second Champions League, were World Champions, sat in the heart of London and happened to be one of the most successful clubs across the last 20 years in the Premier League.
Boehly's success at the Dodgers can hopefully inspire the sort of rebuild Chelsea has needed for a while. If the transfer budget of £200m is to be believed, Thomas Tuchel and the new hierarchy can begin to rectify the errors in squad building over the last eight years.
This is a chance for a needed reset, one that can appreciate the work done to get Chelsea to this point but appreciate that old habits will keep them distant from the summit, a place Boehly intends to take them back to.
Relief at just having the future of the club secure is the first joy and comfort, even if the rumours of its demise were greatly exaggerated. The subsequent investment in the club, stadium, its employees, the men's and women's teams and the academy are vital.
Plus, the implementation of fan involvement in key decisions will hopefully conjure a more transparent and open dialogue between the club's custodians and its key stakeholders – the supporters.
