Is anyone surprised by Sheffield United's summer transfer window?
Alan Biggs on a turbulent transfer window for Sheffield United
Best thing about the window for Sheffield United? It's finally closed!
It was always going to be more about damage limitation but there's a fine line between that and wreckage.
As this is written pre-deadline, the impending sale of Callum OHare to Wrexham, on top of exits for Gus Hamer and Andre Brooks, threatens to have ripped the creative guts out of the team.
You'd defy any manager to replace them like for like, on a near-zero budget, especially at ridiculously short notice.
But is anyone really surprised? The political turmoil has just made such depletion, forewarned to an extent in fairness, all the more predictable.
But it completely eclipses a round of solid, if unspectacular, recruitment of some seasoned and reliable characters.
The manager has put a brave face on it all and if there is one plus it's that expectations around Bramall Lane are very much on the low side.
Better that in many ways because to confidently anticipate a promotion season is totally unrealistic in my view, for all the team's promising start (writing ahead of Bolton's visit).
And this creates a climate that, in some ways, Chris Wilder will relish; the challenge of succeeding against the odds. A bit like two years ago when the Blades would have done exactly that but for a late dip of their own making.
Equally, though, Wilder would have preferred the opposite. A team with star turns to complement its solidity, with expectations to match (and without the unrest surrounding the club).
But it strikes me his approach would be the same in any event.
Nobody has said as much, and I'm second guessing here, but I suspect Wilder sees this as a pivotal season for himself as well as the club.
Rightly, he continues to carry majority support from the fan base. But there are still those who believe United should break the mould that has served them so well; that a new way forward has to be found.
That will undoubtedly happen at some stage. In the meantime, Wilder will be aware that a competitive season, offering hope in the outcome, will be required to keep the dissenting voices - always the loudest - in check.
His safety net in that respect is the increase in play-off places from four to six. Can United make top eight? You certainly couldn't rule it out, even now.
That said, I know Blades whose preferred finishing positions, in order, would be first, second ... and ninth!
The play-offs are a dubious prize with United's track record. But I struggle to see a team denuded of some of its best match-winning talent reaching above that.
The manager would justly claim it as his greatest triumph if that conclusion is confounded.