Newcastle United's new owners thought they had their man, but Unai Emery had other ideas.
Whether this proves to be Newcastle's Kaka turning point - the Brazilian appeared close to joining Man City before ultimately deciding to stay at AC Milan in 2009 - remains to be seen.
Aside from Jamie Reuben, none of the part-owners have experience of working in football and the reality is they have not been used to not getting their number one target in their respective fields up to this point.
Without a structure in place, with proper football people, mistakes will be made along the way and if Newcastle are to win the Premier League in five - 10 years, you can't get too many decisions wrong.
That is what makes the owners' next call so important when it comes to appointing the first manager of this new era.
Luckily, for the hierarchy, there remains an alternative they highly rate who is keen on the job: Eddie Howe.
Rather than comparing Howe with Emery - not many managers have won 11 trophies like the Spaniard, after all - it is worth stressing that the 43-year-old already has support from influential figures at the very top, including Reuben, after catching the eye in his interview.
On paper, there were other candidates with better CVs but, tellingly, Howe impressed his doubters with his pitch and plans, stressing he believed these players were better than where they are in the table right now.
It may seem a grim situation - Newcastle are six points from safety and there are still 10 games to play before the January window opens - but Howe has seen worse.
Indeed, when Howe took charge at Bournemouth, in 2008, the Cherries were seven points adrift in 91st place in the Football League and under a transfer embargo. Howe knew he had to get the best of what he had and, miraculously, kept his side up by working with the players on the training pitches and giving them renewed belief.
Howe went on to lead Bournemouth to the Premier League in 2015 and managed to keep the Cherries up for four seasons while playing attractive football.
Bournemouth did go down last year, but that should not overshadow Howe's remarkable achievement in the first place.
Harry Redknapp, who knows Howe well and previously came close to taking the Newcastle job, himself, in 2008, believes this 'student of the game' would be the right man for the Magpies.
"He's ready to come back in now, ready to get himself back in work," Redknapp told ChronicleLive.
"You know what you're getting with him. You haven't always got to go and get a foreign manager in. You talk about Unai Emery. He's done well in Spain when he's been out there, but there's good lads here and Eddie would be a great fit for Newcastle.
"Eddie works hard on the training ground. He works hard as a coach. He might take Jason Tindall with him, who's a good lad, and they would work with the players every day looking to improve them and get them organised. That's what Eddie can do.
"Bournemouth were really exciting under Eddie. I've seen them beat Liverpool here. I've seen them scare the life out of Man City when they should have beaten Man City. No one ever came here and got an easy game. They went toe to toe with everybody and that's the way he plays. I think they would love him there, for sure."
Howe has already thought deeply about this Newcastle project and the idea of uprooting his whole family so he could fully commit to it.
After previously turning down a number of offers in the last year or so, from clubs at the highest level, Howe would relish the chance to build at Newcastle - just as he did at Bournemouth.
It would be a huge move in so many ways but, crucially, Howe would be allowed to appoint his own staff and the 43-year-old will find a kindred spirit in Graeme Jones if he takes the job.
The pair know each other from the circuit and Jones actually went on to work with a number of Howe's staff, including Jason Tindall and Simon Weatherstone, at Bournemouth.
Howe, like Jones, is big on standards - always being the first into training at 6.30am - and his work ethic is perhaps his biggest asset.
That drive comes from his late mother, Anne, who raised Howe and his four siblings alone while working a host of jobs.
Anne's death, in 2012, was so devastating for Howe that the Englishman felt the pull to return to the South Coast after less than two years in charge of Burnley.
It was during that second spell at Bournemouth that Howe became one of the country's most promising and hands-on managers.
Howe personally cuts up clips for his players; never repeats training drills; and relishes the challenge of improving individuals.
At Bournemouth, Howe struck a delicate balance where he called players by their nicknames - Ryan Fraser was the 'wee man', for example - but also held them to such high standards that he stopped drills and uncharacteristically swore if they were not doing what he asked.
On the subject of Fraser, who has looked lost at Newcastle, Howe was a father figure to the Scotland international during their time together at Bournemouth. So much so, Fraser's team-mates even called him the 'teacher's pet'.
As well as getting Fraser off a harmful diet of pizzas and ice cream, Howe arranged cooking lessons for the forward and even invited him around to his home to keep a close eye on him.
Fraser, Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie have all previously worked with Howe at Bournemouth and, tellingly, the trio all had positive experiences. They will also have an idea of what to expect if Howe does get the job.
Although Howe will recognise that Newcastle need to stop shipping soft goals, that is not going to suddenly change his approach.
Bournemouth conceded at least 61 goals in each of Howe's five seasons in the top-flight and while he adapted, tactically, the former Cherries' boss never moved away from his core aim of wanting to entertain supporters.
In that sense, Howe may feel that attack will be the best form of defence because Newcastle's best players, Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin, happen to be forwards.
If Howe is to be the man, it certainly won't be dull.
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