John Carver neither offered nor was asked to step down as Newcastle United manager as a developing crisis on Tyneside came to a head.
The 50-year-old held no-holds-barred talks with managing director Lee Charnley and senior players on Monday before the club announced that he would remain in charge for the final three games of a season which could yet end in disaster.
But PA Sport understands he never offered to walk away and was not asked to as club officials try to find a way out of a mess largely of their own making.
However, that situation might have been markedly different had Derby boss Steve McClaren not indicated that he was not ready to give the Magpies the answer for which they were looking after a lengthy pursuit.
McClaren was at the top of the list drawn up by Charnley in January as he looked to replace the departed Alan Pardew, and when he could not get his man at the time, he decided to hand Pardew’s assistant Carver the task of guiding Newcastle over the finishing line.
But little did he expect at that point that a team sitting comfortably in mid-table would win only two of its next 16 league games and lose the last eight in succession, to slip into the thick of a survival fight.
McClaren’s prospects of landing the job in the longer term may have been dealt a fatal blow by his continued reticence, but the club’s short-term focus is more fundamental.
Saturday’s 3-0 humiliation at Leicester, during which defenders Mike Williamson and Daryl Janmaat were sent off, the former prompting a remarkable post-match reaction from Carver, left the Magpies in 15th place in the table, but just two points clear of the drop zone.
They face West Brom at St James’ Park – where thousands of fans have boycotted the last two games in protest at the way owner Mike Ashley is running the club – on Saturday knowing only victory will ease their relegation fears.
Given that they have only scored four goals and conceded 18 in the last eight games, that looks a remote prospect unless something changes radically in the Newcastle dressing room.