There has been only one formal offer made for Aston Villa football club in the last year - and Doug Ellis did not even think Ray Ranson's £47 million bid last September warranted face-to-face talks.
But the octogenarian chair-man's apparent reluctance to sell has not discouraged other "interested parties" from considering bids for the Midlands biggest football club.
Many are unnamed, some are named. But all of them recognise that Villa have valuable fixed assets and a huge potential through its dormant, but massive fanbase.
Weeks after Ranson's failed bid, Villa's share price rocketed by more than a quarter after the club confirmed moves from another consortium.
Villa sources refused to go into detail but confirmed a "preliminary approach" has been made.
The announcement from the club was made after widespread media speculation that a £60 million Russian takeover backed by a Roman Abramovich-style tycoon was on the cards.
This followed reports months earlier that a Venezuelan consortium was planning to bid for Villa. No formal bids were made from either party - much to the frustration of fans.
However, in October, Ellis responded to fans' concerns that he was reluctant to relinquish control of the club with an announcement that stunned the club's Annual General Meeting.
He told the meeting that the club was "proceeding with an initial inquiry" that he hoped to conclude within a month.
The rumour mill again went into overdrive and at the end of the month reports surfaced that Irish brothers Brian and Luke Comer were behind a bid that was being fronted by lifelong Villa fan Michael Neville.
Villa was expected to come under the control of a property company, the Comer Homes Group, which has assets of £1 billion.
However, after a confirmation from the club that a "preliminary approach" had been received, movement was slow and many thought the deal had collapsed by Christmas.
Villa released another statement to the Stock Exchange which said that no firm offer had been made and a frustrated Ellis put the search for potential buyers in the hands of bankers Rothschild.
Earlier this year, Neville insisted his deal was still on the table, although it was making "extremely slow progress".
The 51-year-old finally tabled an "indicative offer" earlier this week following speculation that US billionaire Randy Lerner was considering moving in on the club.
On this occasion, it is unclear who is behind Neville's bid. With the new season only weeks away and the transfer deadline of the end of August fast approaching, there is a real sense of urgency inside Villa Park.
Ideally the club would like a managerial appointment in place before their pre-season tour of Germany and Holland next week.
And with Villa set to announce what is likely to be poor financial figures at another autumn AGM this year, Ellis might find that it is in his interest to lose his "reluctant" tag sooner, rather than later.
Fan in centre stage
MICHAEL NEVILLE
Michael Neville was thrust to centre stage of the takeover saga when details of the bid by Brian and Luke Comer emerged last autumn.
The Solihull businessman and lifelong Villa fan had put together that bid and was in talks with Villa's board from last year.
Villa confirmed they had received a "preliminary approach" at the time, fuelling anticipation among supporters that a new era was dawning at Villa Park.
Neville proved to be elusive during the media storm and failed to return calls or speak to the media citing "stockmarket rules" over takeovers.
However, he had spoken about his background as a Villa fan, and claimed to have watched his first game as a ten-year-old.
Villa fans became frustrated when the "preliminary approach" failed to develop into a concrete offer.
Neville's credentials were questioned when there was no develops in the deal after he said in November that "significant movement" was expected.
Reports that due diligence was continuing over the Christmas period failed to raise the spirits of those who hoped the bid would succeed - especially after Villa told the stock-market that no firm offer had been received.
Bankers Rothschild were recruited by Ellis as he took a back seat in the search for bidders.
However, Neville refused to consider this move a rebuke to his attempts to buy the club as he insisted the deal was "alive".
Although the Comers, who are thought to be worth about £1 billion, are no longer involved, Neville clearly believes he now has the financial muscle to wrestle control of Villa.
Is family history the big spur?
RANDY LERNER
Speculation that Randy Lerner was preparing a bid for Aston Villa almost certainly provoked other "interested parties" to throw their hats into the ring.
It is no surprise that other bid teams felt that they had to act; as one of America's richest men, Lerner has the financial clout to buy Villa more than twenty-times over.
Much of Lerner's wealth has been inherited from a family fortune that now stands at roughly $1.4 billion.
The 44-year-old, who has a history in investment banking, is currently chairman of the lucrative credit-card company MBNA.
He is most widely known as chairman of the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise, which has been listed as the seventh most valuable in north America at $892 million.
Lerner spent 1983 in the UK at Clare College, at the University of Cambridge. His education before was at a University in Columbia.
After university, he launched a career as an investment analyst and in 1991 started an independent investment firm called Securities Advisors Inc, which he owned and managed until 2001.
Lerner's spokesman recently said the businessman had been in England with the aim of building on commercial interests that he set up in the UK in 1993.
It is understood that former football league chairman Keith Harris has been acting on Lerner's behalf; which again proves that the approach is 100 per cent serious.
The city dealer has many contacts in football and set up Roman Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea.
As the world's 562nd richest man, Lerner might currently feel at ease with what he has achieved.
But it was his father, Al Lerner, who founded MBNA in 1991 and is widely considered to be the saviour of Browns in the 1990s.
Al Lerner died in 2002, and Lerner Junior might think he has something to prove. Recreating the glory days at Villa Park might just be that challenge.
ATHOLE STILL
The news that Sven Goran Eriksson's agent Athole Still is involved in talks with Doug Ellis is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the Villa takeover saga.
Sources close to the former England manager have dismissed claims that he may be considering a return to management at the Midlands biggest football club.
But both Eriksson and Still have already revealed that they consider Villa an attractive investment opportunity - albeit it through an elaborate newspaper sting operation.
Eriksson was quoted as saying that Ellis is "old" and "sick", before the conversation then turned around to the Swede's potential interest in becoming Villa manager should the 'rich Arab' they were speaking with opt to invest his non-existent fortune.
Still himself told the undercover reporter that Villa were "ripe" for a takeover.
To add even more confusion to the Villa takeover saga, an independent Dubai-based consortium is also among the groups interested.
