Back in June, some knucklehead publicly stated that the significance of Apollo Tyres’ $2.5 billion run at Cooper “cannot be overstated.”

He continued, “This is big. Bigger than when Pirelli bought Armstrong. Bigger than when Yokohama bought Mohawk. Or when Conti bought General or Michelin bought Uniroyal-Goodrich….We’re talking about a real game-changer, a move that will impact everyone in the industry for years to come. The only bigger deal, the only more significant game changer came when quiet little Bridgestone bought staggering giant Firestone 25 years ago. We’re still feeling the impact of that acquisition today.”

Ha! What a maroon! What a fool! What a boob!

What should have been the Next Great Tire Deal – one that gave Cooper cover and allowed Apollo global growth – has turned into a world-class cluster-you-know-what, full of lawyers and finger pointing even as both sides continue to dream the dream of this “compelling” marriage.

The next chapter will be written in a Delaware courtroom next week. Perhaps a decision will be rendered immediately; likely not, given the ‘he said-she said’ nature of the complaint and response and all of the complexities of a $2.5 billion deal.

The judge – the right honorable Judge Sam Glasscock III of the Delaware Chancery Court – will hear both sides of the story. I won’t guess how he will or won’t rule, but I am sure an appeal will be forthcoming. Sorting this all out will take some time and more money.

Regardless the outcome, the honeymoon is well over and if the deal is consummated, it will be more of a shotgun wedding than the logical conclusion of a pie-eyed rubber romance. And if vows are eventually exchanged, I suspect (but certainly not predicting) that it will be for far less than $35 per share…or even $32.50 per share.

If all unravels, there will be damaged goods all around. Apollo’s ‘global tiremaker’ play will be shelved for a while, a good long while as the wounds heal and the reputation is re-polished. In that time, growth-by-acquisition will become increasingly difficult and another dance partner won’t be easily found. Apollo may, in fact, find itself the pursued rather than the pursuer.

Apollo had so very much to gain, but it may well have (if analysts are to be believed…and right now they have a better batting average than I do) overshot the mark, leaving many to wonder about management savvy and financial bearing. Dare to dream, but don’t force the shot, right?

Cooper made no bones about the fact it has been seeking a mate, and eight of 10 possibles considered (or that considered it) didn’t even want a first date. That fact doesn’t speak well of one’s current status, or its prospects.

At a Findlay Rotary Club meeting in September, Cooper chairman and CEO Roy Armes said the company had already decided it “needed to get bigger to survive, and were shopping for a merger,” according to a Findlay Courier recap. While Apollo wasn’t on the initial date list, it obviously came up as that line-up of prospective partners shrunk. The Indian firm, which had made a run at Cooper last fall, continued to cast a longing gaze and finally caught Cooper’s eye.

The reality of the tire world, Armes told Rotarians, was that Cooper was a shrinking fish in an ever-growing pond. "We continued, on a global scale, to move from eighth-largest tiremaker to number nine, to number 11 in the global environment, and that began to get a lot of people worried," Armes said at the meeting. "We said, ‘Look, we’ve got to grow. Let’s look and see if we can marry up with some companies, acquire other companies.’

"The global intensity of the competition has grown immensely in just the last five years," Armes said. "Scale has become more and more important on how we are going to really survive."

When Apollo came a-calling in October, Cooper told them to put a real deal together. When Apollo came through in May, they had Cooper’s full $2.5 billion attention. And then reality struck the two optimistic love birds.

The Indian stock market hated the deal; too much debt, too heavy a financial burden. Apollo stock prices plummeted while Cooper’s rose rapidly. Some ex-Cooper execs took shots at the deal, calling it “corporate greed” and a sell-out. The USW (according to some news reports) decided to get back some of what it claims it gave away in recent contract negotiations with Cooper, putting Apollo on the defensive and facing added costs that weren’t factored into the deal. ‘Union’ workers at the Cooper Chengshan Tire plant in China – 65% owned by Cooper – walked off the job, supposedly concerned over a shift to Indian management. The reality, according to Jeffrey Goldfarb of Reuters, may be a bit more sinister. You can read his post here: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/09/breakingviews-cooper-apollo-idINL4N0HZ0MN20131009

The only thing that seemed to go right was when Cooper shareholders overwhelmingly approving the deal. As if there was any question.

But there were questions. By Apollo. And then by Cooper. Which led to Oct. 4 and Cooper’s lawsuit to try and force Apollo to close the deal. And Apollo’s response on Oct. 15.

And now we wait for Judge Glasscock’s wisdom to prevail.

It’s unfortunate, but this boob is not sure (notice, no definitive statement here!) you can put this Humpty-Dumpty (in hindsight) deal back together. Right now, neither party could agree on lunch if you handed them a one-item menu. And maybe that’s the image they want to give off, a fog of repudiation and a war of words that screens out behind-the-scenes efforts to significantly change or even undo the deal.

I think. Perhaps. Maybe. Not sure.

There are literally dozens of such post-mortem questions being asked (already) – a semester’s worth of business class analysis to be sure – if this deal does die.

Some respected business folk say the best deals are often the ones that don’t get done, and perhaps that is the case here. Let’s hope for the best should the last wheel come off this sled. Let’s hope the scars aren’t too alarming, and that there are no permanent disabilities.

‘Cuz both of them will want to get back on the dating circuit ASAP.

Of that I’m pretty sure. I think.