"When this board took office less than two years ago, in January 2024, we inherited a mess," said Richard Collier-Keywood at the start of a Welsh Rugby Union presentation that, including questions from the assembled press, took over 90 minutes.
"They've still got a mess," remarked one scribe after it was all done, referring back to the WRU chair's opening remarks. Because, on the day when Welsh rugby finally learned exactly how many professional men's teams it would have moving forward, style took precedence over substance for large parts of the afternoon.
Of that 94 minutes of talk in the Principality Stadium, it took over 50 minutes for the actual number - three - to be mentioned even once. By that point, the WRU's 3pm embargo was getting painfully close.
A bombardment of information, running the clock out like a Senate filibuster. Were there a premium on PR jargon and filler, the WRU could do worse than selling the drilling rights under the Principality Stadium to solve Welsh rugby's financial ills.
Yet, some crucial details remained unsaid.
Thankfully, the story - reducing the level of suspense in the room. Having initially set out to go from four to two, they will now go to three.
Quite how they get there, or when they reach that number, is still a little unclear.
One in the west, one in the east and one in . That's what the players and clubs were told on Friday morning.
There will be equal funding for the squads starting at £6.4m and rising to £7.8m per annum.
It's hard to see how, in those terms, it doesn't look like a shoot-out for the west spot between and . However, Collier-Keywood wouldn't put it that way.
"We feel these are the best locations based on data," he said. "We’re not putting two teams against each other. That's not our plan today. We intend to work collaboratively.
“So there will only be one geographic club in the west, but the existing clubs can all apply for any of the licences going forwards. We hope that it will be through a consultation process."
Collier-Keywood - describing himself as a "natural optimist in life" - said he had a reasonable degree of confidence that a consensus could be reached in terms of reaching three teams. If not, we are looking at a tender process.
"One solution is that the Scarlets and Ospreys do have conversations and sort it out themselves," he added - a thought process some would see as naive.
"We wouldn't rule that out and that could be one of the solutions. All I'm saying is there are three licences on offer and three groups of owners outside the Welsh Rugby Union, we hope we reach a consensual decision.
"We would like to do this by consent. That will either mean some people withdraw or some people decide to merge together. We’d rather those. A merger keeps more resources."
In terms of four becoming three, it's hard to escape - when it comes to these licences - that another team buying Cardiff would be an ideal situation for the governing body.
"So it may be that Ospreys and Scarlets want to combine to make a bid for the west," he added. "It may be that one of them wants to make a bid for Cardiff and discuss that with us.
"It may be that there will be new players in the system. We've already had several interested parties that have come and talked to us around the Cardiff franchise."
Collier-Keywood was clear that the WRU don't intend to own Cardiff moving forward - saying there is an opportunity for "another team or group of owners" to come in and support that. He also didn't directly answer if the union had encouraged any of the other three clubs - in particular Dragons and Ospreys - to look at taking over Cardiff.
"We have made it very clear both publicly that we are not interested in Cardiff in the long term," he added. "So the board have encouraged both everyone inside the system and outside the system who have any interest in coming forward and supporting Cardiff."
Negotiating that with the three groups of owners outside the union on that could be interesting before the fact that the WRU remain intent on retaining control of the rugby side of matters.
When asked if the current benefactors were happy with that arrangement, it's clear that some were more enthused than others. "So we've not had those discussions in detail yet," said Collier-Keywood. "Some are very content with that, others want to explore it with us further.”
The other question is when we get there. As soon as possible is Collier-Keywood's mindset, but while he would like to say next season, he knows that isn't possible.
Instead, he'll have to work with the four clubs and the United Rugby Championship to get this done.
The league is an interesting point, with the WRU chair having recognised at the start of his introduction that most in Wales want an Anglo-Welsh league.
However, Collier-Keywood was at pains to stress that, ultimately, wasn't in their control as they outlined their commitment to the URC.
However, when asked if the URC was on board with the plan to go to three - given the league are understood to be pushing for an even number of teams - all Collier-Keywood could say was that the WRU "stand by our contractual commitment" to the league.
A "forever" contract with the URC was again mentioned after Dave Reddin, the WRU's director of rugby and elite performance, had mentioned it earlier this month - suggesting there's just a rolling deal with the league with no official end date.
However, two obligations were mentioned with the league. One being to not play in other competitions and the other to provide four teams.
"To change that commitment, we would have to do that with the consent of the URC," added Collier-Keywood.
There was other detail, bits of fluff that was designed to make you think this was the plan all along. "We've listened," was Collier-Keywood's key point.
But it's hard to feel this isn't a climbdown of sorts.
In their 90-page document last month, an evenly-funded three-team model was rated by the WRU as moderate on 'high performance' and 'commercial' factors, as well as poor on 'feasibility'.
Hardly the sort of selling points for the type of change they're trying to now sell.
For what it's worth, neither Collier-Keywood, nor WRU director of rugby and elite performance Reddin, believe this current situation is a mess.
Nor, despite the genuine sense that they had staked their reputation and even their position on getting to two, that their positions are untenable.
“Definitely," Collier-Keywood said. "I don’t accept it’s a mess at all.
"We went out with a consultation that had radical proposals. It was good to have debate.
"These things aren't usually debated but we didn't just want it to be debated within the closed doors of this stadium. I think that’s absolutely necessary if we’re going to make change. We’re going to take people with us in that change.
"I have fun in this job every day. I would hate that to stop being the case. Of course, if it's decided differently, then I serve at the pleasure of the clubs."
Reddin, in particular, was understood to have driven the two-club model. There were even suggestions he would consider his future were it not forced through, although the writing on the wall when it came to two was abundantly clear - with very few, if any, willingly backing it.
“The two-club model was predicated on the circumstances at the time and the budget at the time," said Reddin. "We said we were going out to consultation to listen, that's exactly what we've done.
"And in the meantime and in parallel, the union's worked incredibly hard at looking at the finances and is really pushing itself into the future to try and create the right balance.
"And I think when you look at the level of investment we're speaking about and the level of change, I'm massively excited about that. So I don't see the mess at all. It's not going to be an easy process to get there, but I'm hugely excited about the future.”
So, clarity at last. And yet, for the next year, or two, or three, so much more uncertainty, it would seem.
Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our and our for all the breaking news.
You can also follow us on social media on our , ,and
For more exclusive stories and in-depth analysis, you can
