Even by Portsmouth’s pantomime standards, this week has rocked, with the goals to which they’ve lost their opening Premier League fixtures being the normal bit.   In front of chairman Sulaiman Al-Fahim and, worryingly for club finances, 3,000 empty seats, Portsmouth fell to a deflection off Fulham goal-machine Bobby Zamora’s back on Saturday.   And on Wednesday, they lost to a stoppage-time penalty at Birmingham (the earliest-ever ‘relegation six-pointer’?), conceded after a charge out of his box, in more ways than one, by keeper David James.

James set the tone with an Observer article in which he suddenly realised that “even millions of pounds of TV revenue may not be enough to keep (Portsmouth) afloat.”

“You naturally worry that staff might lose their jobs,” he added, “and ask yourself ‘Is it because of what I’m earning?’” To readers’ shouts of “Of course it is you dopey git” James concluded that “the numbers don’t stack up.” And James is bright…as footballers go.

With transfer and bank repayment deadlines looming, the rush to complete a takeover, ANY takeover, has been unseemly.   Al-Fahim has inspired ‘fresh doubts’ among friends and foes over his ability to fund a beneficial takeover. The Telegraph reported his latest wheeze, financing the deal through borrowing against Pompey’s future TV income.

Then stories emerged that Al-Fahim was due a £100m bonus for his year’s work at Hydra Properties – a year which saw him replaced as Chief Executive. Even bankers might have baulked at such an obviously unwarranted payment. And cynics suggested the story was fabricated to convince potential lenders that Al-Fahim would, eventually, be good for the money.

Articles mentioning the bonus have since been pulled from the Middle East business magazine web-sites on which they first appeared. The cynics may have been right.

In the meantime, Storrie might be the saviour. A Portsmouth News report named former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein as a potential source of consortium funding, while the Sun has named German financier Holger Heims, a regular feature of football club takeover rumours.

Storrie himself is not thought to be a significant funding source, unless he’s WAY too well paid by Pompey, which makes him part of the problem.

A club statement said: “regulations regarding beneficial ownership (the “fit-and-proper-persons’-test” which allegedly scuppered Al-Fahim’s financing) would be complied with.”

But Storrie was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and remains on bail. So is he “fit and proper” to run a football club regardless? Some say “oh no he isn’t,” others “oh yes, he is.”

Which is where we came in.