So Chavski have spent £276 million on players since Roman Abramovich staked up at the Bridge and saved the club from bankruptcy. “I like the cut of his gib,” remarked Captain Birdseye at the time. And possibly his wallet. Trading losses of £228 million since suggest that, were the Russian oligarch not still treating the first team squad as a convenient way of processing humungous amounts of cash, they would still be relying on the squad of 2002-03.

And for the good of the sport, the EU are thinking of getting involved. What a waste of time. Here is a man with such a complex network of overseas companies that even if the authorities wanted to bring him to book, frankly they would find it very difficult to make anything stick. I don’t doubt Mr Abramovich hires the kind of financial expertise that would ensure that.

So football authorities – even those backed by European stature law – will not stop Chavski’s owner from beating whatever spending cap rules they choose to impose. And here is how.

I have no idea how many executive boxes they have at the Bridge, but I did read that sum had increased in cost from £300,000 per season to something like £1 million a season over the summer. Which got me thinking. Let’s say that a spending cap was introduced that meant Chavski could not spend more on transfer fees than 100% of their operating profit. Can’t remember the last set of figures, but tens of millions in the red on last year’s accounts indicate there’s a bit of a gap before loss turns into profit.

With the new rules in place, overnight, Chavski could easily become a profitable organization if that is required. It would just mean a time of spend, spend, spend for a few of the network of companies that Roman’s readies currently call home.

So let’s see, Roman’s company A might decide to buy a million replica kits – that should bring in about £40 million – and give them away to schoolchildren across the south east – or in the States. Suddenly, the financial picture for Chavski FC looks a whole lot rosier. I mean, the number of super yachts Roman’s building seems a surefire indicator that he is desperate to unload himself of readies in any way he can. And what great PR to give away all those kits to kids, eh?

And of course, why limit the cost of those corporate boxes to £1 million a season? Let’s up them to £10 million a year and get Roman’s Company B to take an option for 20 of them. Hello, there’s another £200 million on the books. How many players can we buy now?

For God’s sake, talk about naivety. If the football authorities think they have any chance of running Roman out of town they need to bite the bullet and come up with something really revolutionary. Like telling Chavski that their sort aren’t really wanted, so don’t bother looking for your name on next season’s fixture list because they have been uninvited from the Premiership party. As that’s a bit like the kid with the ball taking it home because it’s time for his tea, it isn’t going to happen. But ridiculous as it sounds, in reality there’s more chance of that approach stopping Chavski’s modus operandi that way than any spending cap ever will.

In profit by 2010? Well, if need be, they will be a lot sooner than that.