Those who see their glass as being generally half full will have been reassured by the news that Portsmouth FC has managed to agree a refinancing package with a financial institution.

In the short term at least it will bring some long-overdue stability, which has been sadly lacking in the past 12 months. In short, Pompey's finances should be secure until the end of the season.

Avram Grant also looks set to finally take over as Director of Football after his long-running work permit imbroglio and the final outstanding debts to Chelsea, Arsenal and Watford look set to be settled as part of the refinance deal, allowing Pompey to sign players once more.

And the targets they are being linked with so far - Hatem Ben Arfa and Loic Remy for instance - if true suggests an upturn in fortune on the field may not be too far away.

It is to be hoped that the new-found even keel will also coincide with the team managing to navigate towards calmer Premier League waters in the short term as well.

Because the bottom line is that it needs to.

If Pompey are to have a fighting chance of avoiding the drop they need to pick up around ten points between now and January 1.

That's ten points from eight games. Their record so far is somewhat less impressive than even that modest target.

For while the refinancing package keeps Mr Wolf from the door for the time being, reading between the lines, he is still prowling around outside.

His moment may yet come. Article continues here

While securing finance on future TV revenue is far from uncommon in the Premier League, the worry for many fans will be the impact relegation would have on this new deal.

At best, Pompey have swapped bad debt for less worse debt, but debt to the bank it still is. It will have to be serviced and, one day, paid back. How straightforward that might be for a club with one foot in the Championship, is the $64,000 question all fans want answering.

And all the while there remains a complete lack of transparency over who owns the club and their long-term plans for it, the worry remains that we are merely witnessing the deckchairs being rearranged on the Titanic.

Somewhat curiously, news of this refinancing package came through board chairman Sulaiman Al Fahim.

Branded by many fans a fool - or worse - he has shown remarkable tenacity in keeping his fortunes hitched to Pompey's star.

Few would have expected him to still be in the reckoning by now after he was unceremoniously forced into selling 90 per cent of his stake to Ali Al Faraj back in early October.

But around he still is, promising to yield his land rights around Fratton Park, provided a stadium is built, not to mention claiming he has an option to increase his stake in the club still further.

And not to be under-estimated is the sense that the bloke, for all his past hyperbole-laced-with-naivete, appears to actually care. And he has even invested some money in the club too.

Neither claim can appear to be made of the other power-brokers at Fratton Park.

Al Faraj, is simply nowhere to be seen and the received wisdom is that his role is no more than a peripheral figurehead with little or no stake, either financial or emotional, in the business.

Instead, a shadowy consortium of around half a dozen men, with Mark Jacob as their low-profile figurehead, continue to peer into their respective drained glasses waiting to see who will buy the next round.

Pini Zahavi, the self-styled 'super-agent' is also close to the levers of Fratton Park power - indeed he may well be ready to pull some pints once the punters start spending - although his position is far from officialised.

Hong Kong businessman Balran Chainrai has put £15 million behind the bar already - on the understanding he gets it back - but that mainly pays off the previous owners' tab and Portsmouth FC is a pub which needs some real investment.

Back in September, it seemed fans' groups were getting somewhere in their demands for a more transparent relationship with the club.

Two months on, things seem more opaque than ever.

If the club's new hierarchy regard dialogue with supporters' groups as unworthwhile, they are wrong.

They should seize the moment, before 'time' is called at the bar one way or another...

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