Louis Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 http://www.guardian....laiman-al-fahim Sulaiman al-Fahim's six-week ownership of Portsmouth must rate as not only the shortest but surely the most ill-fated tenure in Premier League history. Even when the 32-year-old Emirates-based businessman had finally been confirmed as having bought the club in late August from Sacha Gaydamak it did little to alleviate the turmoil at Fratton Park. The deal, which had taken three months to complete from the day in late May Fahim signed a memorandum of understanding, attracted fresh confusion and controversy. Ali al-Faraj, who was confirmed late last night as having bought 90% of Portsmouth from Fahim, had believed then that his first bid to purchase the club had been accepted by Gaydamak. Yet on the morning when the deal was supposed to be sealed Gaydamak cancelled a meeting with Faraj and instead sold to Fahim. This left the chief executive, Peter Storrie, who had been led to believe he had successfully brokered the deal, publicly fuming and considering his future. Commenting on whether he could continue under Fahim, Storrie said: "I really don't know whether that would be possible, but we just have to wait for everyone to calm down." In the event Storrie, one of English football's more pragmatic operators, continued. The fans, though, had patiently endured a protracted summer as Fahim prevaricated and their best players were sold to service Portsmouth's crippling debt. Once he was confirmed as the new owner they continued to give him the benefit of the doubt until Fahim began, almost instantly, to go off-message erratically. On the field Paul Hart's team were making the worst start to a top-flight season in recent memory, losing their opening seven Premier League games, while their new owner was admitting that there would not now be any fresh finance to buy players in the January transfer window. "We're not in a hurry to sign stars and we're not going to go into the transfer market at the moment," he said from a chess event in Valencia. "We'll probably start signing next summer when we have the necessary liquidity to do so." While Hart was forced to field questions about how he could hope to avoid relegation with this lack of funds Fahim moved to clarify his position by saying he had been misquoted. "Chessgate" occurred on Wednesday 23 September. On the Friday Fahim was due to meet a forum of Portsmouth fans at Fratton Park to discuss their concerns and to hear his vision for the club's future. Yet the forum and the reception he might receive there due to the club's dire start to the season plus his own, uneven public performances caused Fahim to cancel on the Thursday. Cue Storrie to again publicly question his future – and surely, in private, wonder at the sanity of continuing – but by early afternoon the next day fans' groups had been informed Fahim would honour his original promise and he duly rolled up on the south coast. At the discussion with supporters Fahim announced he would raise £50m by the end of October to inject into the club. If this allowed him a friendly reception the following afternoon for the visit of Everton to Fratton (Portsmouth lost 1-0) a few days later he was again facing a challenging battle to readjust his disintegrating public relations. It emerged that Hart's first-team squad plus three executives, including the beleaguered Storrie, had not been paid. A bridging loan from Faraj was hastily put in place before the weekend, Fahim opened talks to sell, and with the 40-year-old Saudi businessman finally taking over last night, the missing wages will be paid. Fahim, though, remains as non-executive chairman. What is next for him and the club he owned for so short a time remains to be seen. It is unlikely, though, to be dull. Yet no one has heard of him: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/on-the-trail-of-an-elusive-saviour-1798219.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romey 1878 Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Bill says there's no one looking to buy football clubs these days... and he's looking 24/7... where? Up his own arse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everton_Worshiper Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 For all we know Al-Fahim enquired about us but Bill sent him packing - judging by the Portsmouth fiasco, rightly so. Maybe his vetting process for new buyers is too stringent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcopaulo Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Bill says there's no one looking to buy football clubs these days... and he's looking 24/7... where? Up his own arse? another thread another bill bashing...why bother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Lets all be jealous of Portsmouth...if only we were in their position we could really push on . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romey 1878 Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Lets all be jealous of Portsmouth...if only we were in their position we could really push on . I didn't once say I wanted that muppet to buy us. I was pointing out that Bill has said there's no one interested in buying football clubs at the moment, which is clearly being shown to be a load of crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 I didn't once say I wanted that muppet to buy us. I was pointing out that Bill has said there's no one interested in buying football clubs at the moment, which is clearly being shown to be a load of crap. Perhaps there's only muppets interested in buying at the moment. It's a bit of a stretch to use an embarrassing series of takeovers at the league's bottom club as evidence that there are suitable buyers for Everton about. Like if I had a £10,000 car for sale....if 100 people offered me £250 for it there'd be a lot of buyers about but I wouldn't want to do business with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Bill says there's no one looking to buy football clubs these days... and he's looking 24/7... where? Up his own arse? I agree with Mark, there is something seriously wrong at Goodison Parks Boardroom, these two millionaires that have just sold Birmingham, Sullivan and his partner, are talking about buying another Club, they mentioned Ipswich, Norwich and several other lesser clubs, what the fook is wrong with Everton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 I agree with Mark, there is something seriously wrong at Goodison Parks Boardroom, these two millionaires that have just sold Birmingham, Sullivan and his partner, are talking about buying another Club, they mentioned Ipswich, Norwich and several other lesser clubs, what the fook is wrong with Everton. David Sullivan is a pauper in terms of the new breed of football club owners. He may be able to afford a little East Anglian club but he's a long way from what we need. If he had the money and/or the inclination to take a club to the highest level why didn't he do it with Birmingham? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romey 1878 Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Do you honestly not think something strange is going on at Everton Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 "David Sullivan is a pauper in terms of the new breed of football club owners" Not compared to Bill Kenwright, and dont forget theres 2 of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Do you honestly not think something strange is going on at Everton Mike? I really don't know.....but I do believe that BK is an honourable and honest man doing what he thinks is best for the club. Also my natural instinct is to go against what I see as the mob witch-hunt mentality prevalent in a lot of Evertonians (though few on here and I'm obviously not talking about you or Bill or hafnia etc). They're the predominant and loudest voice and I think the alternative viewpoint needs to be put as a balance. I don't know that I'm right and I don't claim to know it. "David Sullivan is a pauper in terms of the new breed of football club owners" Not compared to Bill Kenwright, and dont forget theres 2 of them. They're millionaires though Bill, that's the problem. We need a billionaire . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowensda Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 This is the 1st time ive seen admin and stewards disagree...talk conspiracies and all. Im gonna put my feet up, grab some pop-corn and watch this till the end But on topic, always thought there was summin dodgey about the 1st arab guy so this didnt suprise me. Secondly, we do need a Billionaire investor, whichever way you look at it but for what ever reasons that hasnt happened, why...thats the question! I think we missed the trick when we passed up Lerner, if im honest. Look whats he's done at Villa, with the squad, ground (the new bars and suites), training facilities, improved support in America and now he's actively searching for a billionaire investment. I respect what that guys done for Villa, and im not a Villa lover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiemaher85 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 To be honest i'm glad that Sulaiman Al-Fahim never got close to Everton. A very very dodgey man, I mean he bought the club with some fan-fare behind all that and then couldn't afford to pay the players wages and then sold it off to one of his mates. As frustrating as it is at the moment with all these new owners coming in I honestly think that very few have had a positive outcome and think that caution is something that is wise to excericise. Abramovich and the Arabs owning City are two clear successes, but these guys are very rare. I think that Randy Lerner is the one other owner who has done a good job since coming in, but he bought Villa before the global economic down turn. I'd rather get the perfect (or close to) owner rather than hop into bed with the next guy from a far flung country dangeling a wad of tenners in front of our faces. We've started to build somoething at Everton and I want that to be continued, not some no-nothing to come in with empty promises and even worse empty bank accounts. Things could be alot worse than where we are now. We do need to have more investment as it's as clear as day that BK has taken us as far as he can, everyone knows that, but we shouldn't panic into selling the club becasue other people have. The grass isn't always greener. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowensda Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Avram Grant's back as their new Director of Football - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8295129.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue 250 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 I'd rather get the perfect (or close to) owner rather than hop into bed with the next guy from a far flung country dangeling a wad of tenners in front of our faces. We've started to build somoething at Everton and I want that to be continued, not some no-nothing to come in with empty promises and even worse empty bank accounts. Things could be alot worse than where we are now. We do need to have more investment as it's as clear as day that BK has taken us as far as he can, everyone knows that, but we shouldn't panic into selling the club becasue other people have. The grass isn't always greener. Some sanity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.