Today, the man he had extensive negotiations with has revealed that, while Dundee will be tapping into the former Dundee United director’s expertise, the relationship will be an informal one.

While that represents a dramatic — but not unprecedented — u-turn by Bennett, a relaxed Brannan declared it was “business as usual” and even found time to give team boss Alex Rae a vote of confidence.

What was clear today, was that the talks had been wide ranging and the subject of Bennett’s potential ownership had been on the agenda.

“John made his statement last night and, as he said, we talked to him for quite a long time — and we remain good friends,” said Brannan.

“What we agreed for right now, is that John is going to help us with a number of things. He is not going to be joining the board, he is not buying any shares and the way he will help us is really an internal matter, so, in that sense, there really is nothing much to report.

“It is very much business as usual and, although we did talk about a few things, ultimately we did decide not a lot is wrong with the way things are set up at the club, and John agrees with that.”

As Bennett, who made his fortune as senior partner of surveyors J & E Shepherd, seriously considered a buy-out, it became apparent he might opt to move to replace Rae with Queen of the South and former United boss Gordon Chisholm, a close friend.

Not party to such talk, and disregarding recent bad results, the man who appointed the manager was keen to back him.

“John has been very disappointed there has been as much speculation as there has been. John does not know where it has come from and neither do we,” added Brannan.

“He, nor we, certainly never did anything that suggested we did not have full confidence in the manager, but the publicity has caused some uncertainty, which has not helped.”

The big unanswered question is, what led to millionaire Bennett pulling back from taking control?

As recently as yesterday, there still seemed every chance he would do so, but, by the time the Dens board met this morning, it was to formulate a response to the news he was not going to be splashing his cash. That might represent a disappointment and, immediate financial blow, but the lack of an outright owner is in keeping with Brannan’s vision for Dundee.

“I do not like the idea of one owner and I have always said my preference would be for 100 shareholders each owning 1% of the club, or, even better, 1000 owning 0.1% and then electing the board.

No-one can ever really own a football club. As we are seeing around the country just now, all you can do is have stewardship for a period of time before you pass it on, not ownership.”

For Bennett, this episode is a case of history repeating itself. Close on seven years ago, he had talks with Jim McLean about effectively taking over at Dundee United, but also pulled the plug on that deal.

Dave Forbes, a former associate director of the Dark Blues, has expressed disappointment millionaire Bennett has taken so long to clarify his intentions.

However, as well as viewing his lack of involvement as no great loss and, despite being in dispute with the board over how his organisation’s donations should be structured, Forbes would not be averse to seeing Brannan increase his influence.

“I have to say, I never viewed John Bennett as anything more than a welcome guest in the lounges at Dens and did not think he’d take over,” said the Development Club chairman.

“Still, it is disappointing when you see the club miss out on potential money and, if his intentions were never to buy Dundee, he could have come out and said so before now.

“This has been going on for four months now and it shouldn’t take that long to decide what you are going to do.”

As for what the future holds, Forbes was willing to push aside his differences with the chairman that have seen his organisation stay away from recent games.

“I think if Dundee are looking for an owner, there would be no better candidate than Bob. He is vastly experienced in business and I would think he is a wealthy man who could take over.”

In light of the Dens chairman’s preference for Dundee to be a community club (see main story), it has to be said that is not a likely scenario.

Kovacevic has been allowed to return home for a week, but, before he flew off, he was measured for the kind of protective mask that was pioneered by Tannadice legend Dave Bowman when he suffered the same type of injury over a decade ago.

“It will be ready for Mihael to try on by the time he gets back on Monday and starts training again. We will play it by ear after that, but it could be that it means we do have him back playing a bit quicker than we originally expected,” said boss Craig Levein.

By Thursday, the rest of the squad will have joined Kovacevic in having an extended break, but, despite the miserable weather, they were working hard today.