Tom English: Craig Whyte's Rangers takeover bid has been a tortuous process

So how will it work, then? The consortium pay-off Lloyds Banking Group and, with the rest of their 25m, they buy Sir David Murray's shares and wave him goodbye. Then they do a share issue, raise tens of millions of pounds, and live happily ever after. Er, no.

First of all, there is the beginning of a new round of speculation as to who else is behind Murray and King. In fact, let's just stop at King for a second. Johnston is said he is worried about the finances of the Whyte proposal. Well, let's take a little trip to South Africa why don't we?

It's typical of this saga that the image of the Whyte Knight is less believable for some at Ibrox than the vision of King Dave, a man who the South African Revenue Services are still hounding for an alleged tax bill of 240m and about whom a respected judge in their legal system has had this to say recently: "We saw King testify in chief and in cross-examination for four days and are unanimous in finding that he is a mendacious witness whose evidence should not be accepted on any issue unless it is supported by documents or other objective evidence.

"It was remarkable that King showed no sign of embarrassment or any emotion when he conceded that he had lied to the Commissioner in a number of his income tax returns.

"In our assessment he is a glib and shameless liar."

From the very start of the Rangers takeover saga, when a chap called Graham Duffy bounced on to the scene and declared he was going to front the purchase of the club without actually investing a brass farthing of his own money, this tortured business has had an element of farce about it. Never more so than yesterday.

Early morning began with tormented Rangers fans denouncing Alastair Johnston, the Ibrox chairman, for putting the brakes on Craig Whyte's bid to buy the club. In early evening, in the time it took them to read his statement on the matter, the same Johnston changed from villain to hero in the supporters' eyes, from the man who was castigated on every Rangers forum for putting the club's very existence into doubt by stalling Whyte's prospective takeover to a champion who had at his heart the best interests of the club.

The sale of Rangers was convoluted before yesterday. Now it's convoluted and bitter. In his statement, Johnston attempted a controlled explosion of Whyte's credibility as a man of sufficient means to take the club forward in a meaningful way. It was bizarre and possibly dangerous to the future of the club. There may still be a lot of secrecy about Whyte's business plan for Rangers, but it is an indisputable fact that he has proven he has the funds to buy Murray's shares and pay-off the debt owing to Lloyds Banking Group. As far as bona fides go, that's not a bad start. Johnston accepts that Whyte has the wherewithal to end the Murray era and bring a conclusion to the divisive relationship with Lloyds.

Whyte has deposited 28m as proof of his financial clout. He has spent a large six-figure sum on lawyers and accountants and due diligence stretching back six months. He has said publicly, more than once, that he is committed to investing 25m over five years on new players. He has stayed in the game and has worked out a "mechanism" to deal with whatever HMRC may through at the club. He has stayed in the deal, also, despite the nasty little surprise of a 2.8m unpaid tax bill was discovered. He has hung around and inched things forward despite all of that and regardless of the two UEFA charges of sectarian chanting that are hanging over the club at present.

Unless he's a complete madman - spending millions on getting rid of Lloyds and Murray and then not bothering to invest in the business he has just bought - then we must assume that he is going to do what he says. He has hung his reputation on delivering what he has said. What is Johnston thinking? That Whyte will take control of the club and then go, "HaHa! Fooled ye all! I don't have another bob to my name! We're all going down in flames!"

At the very least, he deserves a bit more respect than he got from Johnston yesterday. It was hard to know what infuriated Whyte the most when he read what Johnston had to say; the chairman's rather one-eyed appraisal of things or the final paragraph of his statement which painted Whyte as an understanding soul whose reaction to the bombshell of being told about a rival bidder was all very amicable and constructive. It was not.

The truth is that Whyte spent much of yesterday in anger at Johnston before his anger gave way to a determination to stay involved in the deal. In early evening a source close to Whyte was saying that the directors "had better be careful what they wish for" in connection with the proposed second bidder. Later, his mood was said to be focused on getting the deal done rather than departing the scene.

There is a problem with Johnston, though. In effect, what Johnston was doing was telling Whyte yesterday was to go and wait in the corner while the Rangers vetting party consider the merits of the new player in town, Paul Murray with a rumoured backing from King. Had Whyte told him to get stuffed he would have been within his rights.

The attention now turns to Paul Murray and his cohorts and to what Sir David Murray and Lloyds make of their interest. It is suggested that the first that Whyte knew about it was when Johnston released his statement, though it was already known by some journalists at that point. Whyte would have understandable cause to be annoyed at being kept out of the loop.

The new interested party are at an early stage in their thinking, hence Johnston wanting to put the whole thing off until after the end of the season. It is, of course, a huge gamble on the chairman's part. Whyte still wants to buy the club but if he feels he's being taken for a ride by the directors he may still withdraw. That's the great fear. That Whyte disappears and then the other bidder finds that they can't deliver the money. Rangers would be back to Square One at that point.

What Lloyds make of all this will be interesting. They have a deal with Whyte. And David Murray has a deal with Whyte. David Murray has in the past criticised Paul Murray and King and Douglas Park, who may also involved in the consortium, for sniping from the shadows. If there is any substance to them at all, it's time they proved it. There is no immediate end to this affair. It's Rangers' good fortune, though, that Whyte's determination is so strong. If he wasn't so focused on this deal, he'd have had cause to pull the plug once Johnston sought to humiliate him in his strange statement.