Comment: Yeltz saved from brink of oblivion

But there is sufficient reason to believe the latest developments really can bring about the bright future frequently promised but never delivered in recent years.

For one thing, in Colin Brookes, the Yeltz now have an owner who has the club’s best interests at heart.

The 76-year-old is in essence a figurehead for the new regime which will be run by his daughter Karen, the club’s chairman, and investor Keith McKenna.

Brookes’ position as purchaser was necessary to complete the sale after months of protracted and often frustrating negotiations with the now former owners, the Lynch family.

Make no mistake, this was a rescue act, saving the club from almost certain oblivion and halting the downward spiral accelerated last summer when the FA handed Steve Lynch a two-year ban from the game for breaching ownership rules.

That was only the latest scandal to hit the Yeltz, whose recent history has featured more unexpected twists and unpleasant shocks than your average Hitchcock thriller.

From the moment Morell Maison purchased the club for £3 in October 2007, they have rarely been on a stable footing. At one point, during the reign of the notorious Ingram brothers, there was a different crisis almost every week, from entering administration to being banned from the FA Cup.

Lynch saved the club from going out of business when he bought out the Ingrams in May 2011. Yet while his time at the helm was far less dramatic than what preceded it, the Cannock businessman neglected to build the foundations which would have again allowed the Yeltz to become a self-sustainable club once more.

Those are the foundations Brookes and McKenna will now look to build. Their task will be far from an easy one. Never has it been harder to run a non-league club.

Yet they approach it with eyes wide open and, more importantly, with the backing of fans who have renewed hope for a brighter tomorrow.