Sir Jim Ratcliffe of Manchester United has been through the multi-club ownership tangle with UEFA before and come out of the other side in one piece.
‘It’s all about influence and positions on the board and that sort of thing,’ Ratcliffe has said.
‘There are shades of grey, not black and white.’
So as Crystal Palace and their lawyers head to UEFA HQ in Nyon on Tuesday this is the hope to which they must cling. It’s the grey that they doubtless hope will save the day.
On the face of it, the FA Cup winners have it all to do — just as they did when staring down and beating Manchester City at Wembley to qualify for the Europa League a little over two weeks ago.