Has an alarm bell just sounded for one of English football's sleeping giants?
Aston Villa announced on Thursday that it had rejected a �30m takeover bid led by former Manchester City full-back Ray Ranson.
Nobody was that surprised. Doug Ellis has been in charge at Villa Park for a total of 30 years, and has never shown any sign of going easily.
The difference is that this time the future of the club may rest on whether the 80-year-old Ellis decides to go gracefully if Ranson returns - as expected - with a higher offer.
Villa are a club at a crossroads.
That might sound a strange thing to say about a team that has been conspicuous by its invisibility for the last few years, far from the battle for Premiership honours and never really in danger of relegation.
But the issues that have been building up since Villa's last moment in the spotlight - their FA Cup final appearance in 2000 - will reach an impasse this summer.
Ellis has told manager David O'Leary that his �3m transfer kitty for 2004 will not be boosted in the close season.
 |  We should be in Europe. We are a big club |
With �1.5m already spent on Nolberto Solano, that means O'Leary is left with very little to boost his small squad.
Adding to O'Leary's concerns is the fact that several of his more experienced players - Dion Dublin, Hassan Kachloul, Ronny Johnsen, Ulises de la Cruz - will be out of contract.
If Ellis remains in charge, O'Leary will probably have to rely on free transfers to bring in fresh faces.
That might silence those among his critics who say his only previous managerial success came via the chequebook at Leeds, but it is hardly the sort of circumstances an ambitious manager would choose.
"We need more players in here," admits O'Leary. "It is one of the smallest squads in the Premiership.
"We've got injuries mounting now and at present we're having to put too many kids out there at one time."
Players and fans united
For the fans, it comes down to one thing: does the club want to progress?
Most of them are delighted with how the team has moved up the table to be within striking distance of a place in Europe.
That progress, against the backdrop of financial penury, has been taken to mean that O'Leary is the right man to be in charge, and should be backed accordingly by the board.
 Angry fans protest against Ellis at Villa Park |
Villa's players have already nailed their colours to the mast.
"The manager has to be supported," says Juan Pablo Angel. "Everyone thinks we need more players. We have some good youngsters but we need more experienced players in the squad if we want to be in the top six at least."
Lee Hendrie raised the ante by making a telling comparison with Villa's bitterest rivals.
"Steve Bruce is saying he wants to bring in six players at Birmingham this summer and we've got to do the same if we want to kick on and push for Europe every year," says Hendrie.
"The manager knows that and he has the backing of us all. He's brought the best out of people here but if we are going to push forward he needs funds to do that.
"We should be in Europe. We are a big club but a manager needs to go out and buy players when your squad is thin on the ground."
There is of course no guarantee that a new consortium would throw money at O'Leary in the quantities the fans dream of.
But Villa remain an attractive proposition to any potential investor. The ground has a capacity to compete with the big boys, the fan base is considerable and the club steeped in football history.
There is also scope for improvement. Villa's average attendance falls 8,000 short of capacity and is below that of Everton, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester City.
The majority of Villa's fans do not feel that Ellis, dogged by ill-health and older than most of the stands at his ground, is the man to take the club on.
At the moment he remains in control. But do not expect the story to die down in the forthcoming weeks.
MMIX
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