And that is the difference. One made a play at making something happen, accompanied by an initial period of bad PR. The other got on with doing it.

The former is the mystery "billionaire" who may have been nothing of the sort. The latter is an actual tycoon, Philip Day, whose Edinburgh Woollen Mill firm now appear to be decisively involved with Carlisle United.

Decisive - there's the word. While the full extent of this new arrangement is yet to materialise, and as such we cannot judge it overall, one thing is at least clear.

The Blues have slipped under the cashmere sheets with someone who is capable of actions rather than words and promises. So maybe this really is one foot on the long road back to credibility.

The charge on Brunton Park, security against a loan, is evidence of genuine and firm behaviour of a kind. It represents a very deliberate stepping into United's affairs by Day's successful business.

Nigel Clibbens, Carlisle's chief executive, has stressed it is not an "emergency measure". That is a plain enough hint at a longer and broader understanding, or one that the Blues appear to be hoping for.

From this distance, the involvement of a new major player at United must also surely come with a power shift, even if it is subtle and marginal in these early stages.

How it plays out is to be determined. Yet right now we can further observe a marked difference in approach and tone from the previous financial interest in the club.

In this case, the talking has been done privately, presumably without panic-stricken confidentiality, lurid boasts and loaded threats. The discussing and the doing has also been done ahead of any announcement, instead of getting the opening lines damagingly wrong.

There's no second chance to make a first impression, the saying goes. This was at the heart of the 650-day "billionaire" problem, as Clibbens has since acknowledged.

Once the b-word was spilt from the bottle, the rest of the saga was either a hamfisted attempt to mop it up or a losing attempt to live with it in the face of events, or lack of them.

It set the stage for every bad perception that followed. Whatever the reasons for uttering, endorsing or failing to withdraw that term, it cost United. To the average supporter it clashed with the reality of what their club's "custodians" seemed to be entertaining.

It also made life needlessly harder for owners who were already struggling uphill in terms of public opinion. Whether they can ever fully bury that strange episode is open to question, and we will probably need to know more about EWM's involvement for certain supporters to roll their placards back up and change the word on the end of the John Nixon banner that was seen at Mansfield.

For many, scepticism clings to this Blues regime like a limpet. As such, their new tie-up will be inspected for evidence of flaws and weakness. Cynicism, which has grown over several years, will have its regular scrap with the urge to look on life's brighter side. Fresh questions will naturally be asked about the club's debt situation.

Emphatic answers must follow in due course. But on the surface at least it's possible to be encouraged by the sort of people United are now doing business with, or "extending their partnership", to use the club's initial, modest phrasing.

This, praise be, is not a mystery overseas individual with months of unexplained silence or daft ambitions. It is the prospect of credible new individuals helping and maybe even driving United, whilst also having their financial back.

It will be, one can be sure, a calculated move by Day, who has seldom given the impression of being an uncertain player. According to The Sunday Times Rich List last year, the man calling the biggest shots at EWM saw his assets increase by £300m. His wealth had risen to a cool £1.05bn.

That is the path of someone who knows where he is going before getting on the train: something not everyone has associated with United in recent years.

As such, one can be certain that there is a plan. It might not be visible yet, and nor might the Blues be acquainted with its every clause and comma.

But it would be unlikely indeed for Day and his firm to embark on a venture into the strange and risky world of football without a handle on strategy.

Successful folk from other business circles can become exhausted and bewildered by the game's demands. Running a club must at times feel like a black hole of goodwill and money.

One imagines, though, that EWM are not plunging in blindly or over-committing. That would not appear to be the Day way and, given the scale of his other commitments, expectations of outright takeover and a cash-fuelled rocket journey to the Championship might have to be tempered.

It may be a toe in the water instead of an instant splash - and it will be up to United to make sure the temperature is to their liking. They must live up to whatever EWM are expecting of them, even as they are in sore need of this fresh help and funding.

The latter fact is relevant, for people like Day are masters at choosing their moments. United are weakened, both by constant reliance on Andrew Jenkins' wealth and what the billionaire debacle has said about them. Shifting this reliance, easing this desperation - these appear to be motivating factors now.

Yet unless the benefit is mutual, grand predictions would be unwise. Nor will this week's developments affect current matters on the pitch unduly. Carlisle either sort things out against Crewe today or the mood in many places will remain low.

Dare we, though, think of this as a positive week after so many dark ones? On the basis that United are lining up with people with a track record, as opposed to an anonymous chancer who takes forever to decide, the answer, cautiously, must be yes.