Comment: Sheffield United takeover waiting game is taking a big risk and extending cruel uncertainty

The cast constantly changes but the very long name over the door at Bramall Lane does not.

With a £105m deal apparently on the table and American businessmen Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy certainly around it, prolonging the uncertainty even for a few weeks, let alone until Premier League promotion, could see a club in limbo drop the ball completely.

For the Blades to top the Championship in spite of what is happening – or not – in the boardroom is remarkable, and an opportunity which should not be missed.

Details are far too scant to judge if Rosen and Eltoukhy would be good custodians and the time it took their changing COH Sports consortium to get Football League approval is not good for the pessimists but it is painfully obvious Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abudlaziz Al Saud does not have the wherewithal to make the Blades the club they ought to be.

That the Saudi prince comes across as a very poor judge of character is to blame for the collapse of the previous two takeovers to come out in the open as failing to persuade the League of their wealth proved the least of Henry Mauriss and Dozy Mmobuos’s problems. Mauriss was jailed in California, Mmobuosi fined more than $250m (£196m) in fines in New York, both for fraud.

So excuse us for not overflowing with confidence if Prince Abdullah is thinks he can play a tactical waiting game driven by greed.

More than a fortnight after manager Chris Wilder begged for "clarity", a week after COH revealed they were looking to complete a "rapid" takeover and a brief statement from Blades chairman Yusuf Giansiracusa promising updates "over the coming days", the brief spurt of information has stopped and speculation has filled the void.

Wilder keeping his counsel after COH went public was telling.

Promotion is thought to be the sticking point, but how sticky is unclear. In negotiations like this, cards rarely come out onto the table.

The Prince is said by some to want a bigger bonus if the Blades win the promotion his failure to pay bills on time when last in the division handicapped, with two points deducted.

Others have suggested he is now looking to hold onto the club until it is promoted into the world's most lucrative domestic football league.

In theory he can sell for far more in the Premier League. It sounds pretty cast-iron until you consider three of the five-and-a-half seasons he has owned the Blades outright for have been in the division, and he could not find a buyer. Post-Covid and from the proper base missing in 2023-24, it should be easier.

But wait until May and they will not get the latter and quite possibly not even promotion.

The Blades are doing remarkably right now but running on fumes, mentality getting them through.

Sunderland outplayed them at Bramall Lane and lost. The Blades were off-colour at West Bromwich Albion, yet drew. Millwall hit the woodwork twice on Wednesday, but their visitors won 1-0.

Anel Ahemdhodzic, Vinicius Souza, Femi Seriki and Tyrese Campbell have joined the injury list, hopefully only briefly. Oliver Arblaster is out for the season, Kieffer Moore, Rhian Brewster and Tom Davies in that precarious stage where they are just working back to full fitness.

It all points to a defeat or two around the corner. Hopefully it is like the taxi.

With Sheffield United and Leeds United playing pass the parcel on speed with the Championship leadership, and Burnley and Sunderland resolutely clinging to their coattails, there is minimal wriggle room.

The Blades need reinforcements in January not just for their own sake but to send a message to everyone who is part of the club – particularly supporters – that those in charge are serious about this.

Neither transfers nor takeovers are like a light switch, you cannot just turn them on.

Thanksgiving was the last excuse for delaying the sale and the bankers will have more time off at Christmas. All the while the clock is ticking.

It will be ticking again if Prince Abdullah waits until May, if Wilder can get this squad over the line without proper mid-season investment and if COH or anyone else are willing and able to come back to the table to pay far more than £105m.

The smart money says we will either be second-guessing for another August, fearing a re-run of 2023 when Paul Heckingbottom had his two best players sold on the eve of a Premier League campaign he began with a squad weaker than he had in the Championship.

Or worse still, we will not be second-guessing at all, but looking at the thin gruel of another season with, in Saudi terms, a pauper prince again praying for miracles from Wilder but on a smaller budget as parachute payments drop.