The First Division Championship pennant was unfurled and another fat bonus is on the way to Harrods' footballing department. But this was the hardest-earned money of Fulham's extraordinary season.
Until Sean Davis's equaliser deep into injury-time - at which point Craven Cottage appeared to detonate - it seemed like the longest day for Fulham's players, supporters and officials, among them the overlord Mohamed Al Fayed.
England's most famous shopkeeper did not join the celebratory throng on the pitch for a long time. Perhaps he was still recovering from the surprise of the young midfielder's superb curling shot 40 seconds from the end of the four minutes of added time.
Wednesday had done their darnedest to ruin Fulham's celebrations, which started on Saturday with promotion. The referee Eddie Wolstenholme was also in party-pooping mood, booking Fulham's scorer for stripping off his shirt.
It was a measure of the spirit instilled by Wednesday's caretaker manager Peter Shreeves in his dozen games that an anxious Jean Tigana after the break sacrificed his three senior midfielders - Bjarne Goldbaek, John Collins and Lee Clark - in pursuit of an equaliser. Fulham's approaches became longer and more hopeful.
Even so a Route One fling late on almost brought reward when Kit Symons launched the ball forward and Kevin Pressman fumbled under pressure from Luis Boa Morte. But Louis Saha could not exploit the loose ball. Fulham's frustration reached a new high when in injury-time Saha appeared to have scored his 30th goal of the season with a header but Pressman somehow palmed the ball away.
It seemed that the championship celebrations would be delayed but the 21-year-old Davis, the youngest Fulham player on parade yesterday, was not prepared to wait.
The substitute Barry Hayles threaded a pass to Davis, who responded with a curling shot from 12 yards high inside Pressman's left-hand post.
Less happy was Fulham's United States goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, making his league debut after two years. In the 45th minute he misjudged a Gerald Sibon corner, punching it into his own net off a post.
Afterwards Collins described what it meant to claim the championship. "It means as much to me as winning the French title and playing for Scotland so many times. Today the first half was one of the most one-sided I have ever played in. We tried to play in our usual way but didn't get the ball into the box enough."
Are Fulham good enough for the Premiership? "We'll soon find out," the player-coach replied. "We've got a lot of good players and I'm sure the manager will bring in new faces in the summer. We've nothing to fear. We'll go there and enjoy it."
Source The Guardian by Russell Thomas