Pundits, myself included, who had terminal doubts about UAE business tycoon Sulaiman Al-Fahim’s Portsmouth takeover were proved wrong last week. Sort of.     If you merge the stories from various protagonists, the deal has come from some entertaining personal intrigue and some less-entertaining borrowing against future, mostly broadcast, income – a debilitating factor in many Premier League takeovers.   Basically, Al-Fahim didn’t have the £60m to complete the originally-agreed deal. So then-owner, Alexandre Gaydamak dropped the price.   Chief Executive Peter Storrie’s much-publicised, mega-rich consortium – ‘Plan B’ to its mates – was never considered because one of its investors was allegedly suing Gaydamak’s father, Arkady, for £30m.

Despite Arkady’s total lack of involvement with Portsmouth at any time, EVER, Alexandre put family first, reportedly telling one director that he wouldn’t sell to “this lot” (not thought to be a verbatim quote), even if it meant Portsmouth went into administration, putting “hundreds” (!) of people out of work (one possible reason for Portsmouth’s debts).

Gaydamak had allowed Storrie to believe his people were preferred bidders until the last morning. Letting off steam at this “betrayal”, Storrie told the Mirror the whole story, finding time to raise the age-old question of Arkady Gaydamak’s connection to Portsmouth: “Ironically (HO-HO), Alexandre withdrew funding at the same time as the courts froze his father’s assets.” A loser’s history, but true.

However, for some reason, Storrie will remain as the Premier League’s highest-paid chief executive (another possible reason for Portsmouth’s debt). And Fahim’s takeover deal suggests he’ll be back at his old job description: “I have kept this club alive in the past year” he modestly, yet accurately, claimed – experience which will prove invaluable.

Mainstream media have avoided details of Al-Fahim’s deal but it seems he paid £35m for Portsmouth and its debts. However, £26m has been borrowed against Pompey’s future TV and season-ticket income, with only the remainder coming from whichever source of funding he’s claiming this week.

This £26m will cover outstanding loan repayments to Gaydamak, approx £12m, and the wages until Portsmouth’s second instalment of their Sky money, £20m+, in the New Year (September‘s slice helped pay off Standard Bank and other ‘pressing’ creditors).

The loan, and its attendant £5m annual interest repayment, will be repaid from future club income, including broadcast. The maths of the deal suggests Al-Fahim has assumed steady TV income over future years, which, unless Portsmouth’s points-per-game ratio improves by at least one-and-a-bit, is a mistake.

Would Al-Fahim be that unaware? Possibly. Self-awareness wasn’t his strong suit when he was Manchester City takeover spokesperson last year, nor when he inadvertently revealed, on Sunday, David James’ desire to leave (“I hope he will change his mind”).