With the bookmakers' odds plummeting by the minute and not so much as a hint of a denial emanating from any of the key players, John Hartson reserved the right to change his mind.
Sat in a Glasgow restaurant on Wednesday, a full-night's sleep and exposure to radio stations and rolling news channels had persuaded the former Celtic striker that Steven Gerrard to Aston Villa is now far less a matter of 'if' and more likely 'when'.
Which is not to say that the Wales hero fully gets why the Rangers manager will move to the Midlands negotiations notwithstanding.
Steven Gerrard is on the brink of leaving Rangers and taking over as Aston Villa manager
As a man who played in the English top flight, Hartson needs no one to explain its enduring attraction.
It's just that Rangers, for all the restrictive environment the club plays in, will always have a worldwide profile and fan base that the vast majority of clubs down south could only dream about.
'People down south are saying that Aston Villa is a bigger club than Rangers,' he said. 'Rangers would fit Aston Villa in their back pocket.
'No disrespect. Aston Villa have won a European Cup, but Rangers and Celtic are massive clubs.
'I don't go anywhere in the world without bumping into a Celtic fan. Nowhere. Rangers are the same.'
Hartson's bemusement at the impending switch is multi-faceted. Bluntly, he finds it hard to determine exactly what Villa see in him to make him such a good fit.
Were he to mark Gerrard's work in Glasgow over three-and-a-bit seasons, one domestic trophy out of nine would merit a pass mark but hardly a flurry of gold stars in the jotter.
Villa are 16th in the Premier League table, having lost their last five matches in a row
'Steven has done a good job,' he added. 'He built and built and won the league. They conceded 13 goals and that's great defensive play.
'But last season, Rangers should have won the Treble. The way they lost to St Johnstone at home by not handling the goalkeeper coming up for a corner at a set-piece and the same at St Mirren they went out of two cups very tamely.
'And, remember,
