For Elon Musk, it was just another throwaway joke to spark excitement on a quiet night on Twitter.
But many Manchester United fans, desperate for a bit of hope to latch on to amid misery on and off the pitch, have struggled to take it so lightly.
On Tuesday night, out of the blue, the world's richest man tweeted: 'Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome', followed hours later by: 'No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams. Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid.'
It was a remarkably quick turnaround - but as United's shares surged 3.68% in premarket trading on the New York Stock Exchange, their supporters have become sick of being the punchline to jokes from Musk... and the rest of the Premier League.
One Twitter user wrote: 'Waking up to Elon Musk joking about buying @ManUtd sums up where the club are. Have become a laughing stock and their Premier League rivals are mocking too. Anyone got any more darts to chuck around?'
Others added: 'You couldn't let us have hope for at least 24 hours', while many echoed their thoughts that Musk's posts were 'not funny'.
United supporters have long been desperate for an end to the reign of the reviled Glazer family's ownership of their club. On Saturday at Brentford, with their team 4-0 down, fans raised banners listing the club as 'for sale'.
Later, the Manchester United Supporters' Trust described their latest humiliation as 'the culmination of a long-term direction of travel' until the Glazer family.
The state of the club made Musk's brief 'interest' all the more painful for those that believed in it. Another fan online suggested their 'heart had been broken so many times... don't know what to believe'.
Musk, with his seemingly unlimited potential to buy the best players in the world, would have been a welcome prospect for many fans who want to see the club back at the top of the game.
The 51-year-old Tesla CEO, whose worth is estimated by Forbes to be $272billion (£225bn), has been involved in a protracted takeover of Twitter but has not dipped his hand into sports ownership.
And it wasn't just United fans excited by Musk's interest - Piers Morgan soon piped in on the matter, adding: 'Trust me on this, Elon - you don't want to go anywhere near them... if you want to buy a football team, try Arsenal.'
Meanwhile, United are focused on rescuing their season after starting the new Premier League campaign with two shock defeats by Brighton and Brentford.
They are considering a loan move for Chelsea winger and USA captain Christian Pulisic to bolster their forward line and have also been linked to Atletico Madrid star Joao Felix in the Spanish media.
