After 12 months of obfuscation surrounding the exact composition of the 'ownership group' at Sunderland, this week the fog has cleared.
We now know that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is the largest single shareholder with a 41 percent stake, while the members of the Madrox group hold the other 59 percent with Stewart Donald owning 34 percent, Juan Sartori 20 percent, and Charlie Methven five percent .
That led to understandable fury from supporters who were under the impression that Louis-Dreyfus held a majority of shares, given that it was announced that he had brought a 'controlling interest' and that he was the 'main shareholder'.
Amid rising anger, and with trust in damger of evaporating entirely, Sunderland's chief operating officer Steve Davison has moved to clarify the situation.
Davison said that, despite holding less than 50 percent of the shares, Louis-Dreyfus has 'full control', guaranteed by the shareholder agreement which dictates how the club is run, and that he would not have bought into the club unless that was the case.
While Davison has been unequivocal about that, the sad fact is that the level of suspicion on Wearside towards the owners - and particularly towards Donald and Methven - means the matter cannot rest there.
In the eyes of supporters, Donald and Methven are toxic and not until they leave the club can bridges between boardroom and fanbase truly start to be rebuilt.
Methven is the antagonist in chief and, therefore the priority for Louis-Dreyfus must be to purchase his holding in its entirity in order to sever his ties with the club.
A very close second must be to purchase Donald's stake, which will take Louis-Dreyfus well past the 50 percent mark and at that point the club can begin to turn the page.
Following the announcement of the shareholder split, a spokesman for Donald issued a response saying: "He [Donald] has made it clear throughout that he is happy to sell the remainder of his shares internally to the other shareholders at the same level he has already accepted initially."
Methven did not commit to the share price agreed a year ago, although he did say: "Like Stewart, I would be very happy to sell my shares."
It is now time to put those words to the test.
Louis-Dreyfus should state publicly that he is willing to buy those holdings and end the nightmare, while Madrox should fulfil their public commitment to repaying the remainder of the club's parachute money in full.
The parachute money - £20.5m of which was written off as an 'exceptional operating expense' in the 2018-19 accounts, removing the legal obligation of Madrox to repay the money although they have publicly said they will return the cash - remains an open sore.
The Madrox members say they are continuing to pay back the money and also continuing to provide their share of funds for the club, although it has never been made clear whether or not their share of the funding merely amounts to repaying the club's own money.
But if Louis-Dreyfus does manage to buy out Donald and Methven, it would leave Sartori as the only remnant of the Madrox group.
In an ideal world, fans may prefer that he departs in order to draw a line under the whole Madrox era, which has been one of the sorriest episodes in the club's history.
But Sartori has stayed in the background over the last three-and-a-half years, said little, and continued his political career in Uruguay which has meant he has largely been spared the worst of the anger that has been directed towards Donald and Methven.
The reality is that the Sartori and Louis-Dreyfus families are close, and the likelihood is that he will continue to own a stake in the club - albeit, unless the shareholder agreement changes, Louis-Dreyfus will still retain 'full control'.
What is non-negotiable is the exit of Donald and Methven.
They ran out of road long ago, and Sunderland fans have now run out of patience.
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