The state of chaos surrounding the club is as bad as....well the last time things got this bad, in 1998, when Athole Still was trying to sell all the players for “rrrrrrrrrrreasonable prices” and they were scribbling their own values on their shirts.

On a day when Arkadi Gaydamak was indicted for money laundering and rumours of more arrests and charges swirled around other members of regimes past, Sulaiman Al Fahim checked himself into the hospital and Peter Storrie told us he didn't know how a loan from the Al Faraj Brothers might have been securitised, but it might involve using the club.

The failure to pay the wages 5 days after we were assured by Al Fahim that the club was trading on internationally recognised letters of credit means he is left without credit in my eyes as well as, apparently, the bank. He assured us talk of administration was mischievous and our bills could be paid using the letters. Once it hit the fan, Al Fahims' peoples claims about the magical letters seem to have gone the way of his £100m bonus – it's all gone quiet over there.

Every time Fahim has been under pressure he has made some announcement that has initially looked impressive but which has fallen apart under scrutiny. We were repeatedly told the takeover would be complete 'by the summer' and were categorically assured all the funding was in place. By Friday, this had become “I was always aiming for October” and the money won't be in place for weeks. We had an announcement the takeover was complete, “in principle” yet went through two more versions of the deal where he was only to be a minority shareholder subsequently before a second 'completion' in August. Of course, until Gaydamaks loans are paid it ain't complete. So it goes on, more announcements with the shelf life of a mayfly.

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