The war has been won, and decisively so. Football, for now, remains more than content produced to enrich club owners. The scenes outside Stamford Bridge as word swept a demonstrating crowd that Chelsea had withdrawn from the Super League will not quickly be forgotten, and neither will the shambling, tone-deaf apology from Liverpool owner John Henry. Fans, players and pundits had come together in a way that was genuinely uplifting to assert what they believed football should be.
What matters now is what happens next. What is the settlement? Will football just return to muddling along in the same slightly unsatisfactory way it did before?