It was the Matthew Harding money before the russian gangster. Ken Bates was doing his usual build the debt and try and sell it, until Harding started to invest with a vision for the club. He even left them a nice pot when he was killed in that tragic accident, but of course Ken Bates took the credit for it.
I was told by a friend of Harding that I used to live with, that they were going to make a mega-signing that week, with money from Hardings estate which was contractually due to chelsea despite his death. Think the Harding family were pretty upset about it all. Anyway they bought Zola the next day with the money.