Al-Fahim
Your happy day has come!
Sulaiman Al-Fahim has sold 90% of his share in the south coast EPL club, prompting many of us to wonder what he actually owned in the first place, and the trickle-down effects for players, management and fans is immense.
For one, the players finally got paid for September! David James will no longer go without pay, the same going for the rest of that patchwork squad under Paul Hart’s watchful eye.
The management and staff also got their hard-earned ducats, and furthermore, chief executive Peter Storrie has met with the new owner, Saudi oil tycoon Ali al-Faraj, and confirmed that Paul Hart will have some money to spend in January to improve the deflated, struggling club’s hopes of maintaining their presence in the top flight come next spring.
Quoth Storrie himself: “Ali is a passionate follower of the Premier League and wants Portsmouth to remain in the best league in world football. There will be money to spend in January to make sure we do not lose our coveted place in the top flight.”
It’s a truly insane situation.
Al-Fahim’s six-week tenure came and went with nothing but unfulfilled promises, empty assurances and flat-out lies as to the level of his interest and support of the club he kinda-but-never-really-verifiably owned for the past month and a half. Good players sold, scrubs brought in hastily to fill out the squad… an absolute nightmare.
I never heard whether the EPL had approved the deal they said they were investigating a while back, but one thing’s for certain: Portsmouth are a little better off today than they were this time last week. With administration looming and Al-Fahim laid up in hospital suffering from kidney stones, they’re now on their third owner of the calendar year, and hopefully some smoother sailing ahead.
Does this sort of thing happen in other sports? I think not. While there are more than enough insane, maladjusted people mixed up in owning sports teams (Mark Cuban, Georgia Frontiere, the Hicks/Gillett double act), I find it incredible that a fairly high-profile EPL team can be passed around so casually from person to person, while the product on the pitch and the well-being of the fans and club suffer immeasurably.
It’s surely the first sign of more well-publicized dramas involving high-level soccer teams. The economy is still shaky beyond belief, and there are many, many clubs mortgaging their futures in order to stay afloat. All this risky accounting and refried debt management will eventually come home to roost. The question is, how many clubs will have a wealthy Saudi oil baron to bail them out?
Pompey Paid Up!
Should have gone with the picture of him with Dicaprio.
Remember when he first bought the club and I said that I’m just a tan away from being qualified to do what these guys are doing, and TFA responded that I didn’t have the money, and I countered that it didn’t seem a lot of the new owners did …. well well well look who was right.
you’re still missing the tan!!!
TFA – That’s not Georger, that’s Ogie. But you’re right, most hockey players need tans.
OGILTORP!!!!
/Denis Lemieux’d
@Wedel: trust me, i know. i have met the legend Georger in person and survived. He lacks the requisite tan.
Hockalees – “you go in the box and you feel shame. Then, you are free.”
TFA – OK, just trying to help out. Didn’t want you to think that picture was Georger getting his Screech Fellaini on.
Random questions:
1) Gillett just got the bus up to speed for Rafa when he decides to throw him under it, and no comment from the Liverpool-ariat? (granted, he could be gone soon, but just surprised no one mentioned it)
2) I’m with Shay Given and his complaint about “seeding” the last 8 from Europe, assuming he’s correct in saying it was just added. That’s a bulls**t move by FIFA. Although whoever draws France has to like their chances, and, to be honest, Greece is going to PK’s after two 0-0 games, so maybe it won’t really matter…
Oh, and I can confirm TFA’s assessment of Georger’s need for the tan…
Hey JJF3…
1. Hadn’t gotten to it yet, to be honest. Busy day offline, plus needed some time to get my head around it.
(btw, I like Liverpool-ariat)
2. I totally agree. They brought the seedings in when it appeared that several prestigious countries might not even make it. That sort of s**t was forgivable 20 years ago, but not now, not with all the money riding on a star-power tournament…
I tried to tweet about it but the server was down.
He’s not wrong, and reading it all I don’t think he was trying to f**k Rafa over rather deflect from himself. Rafa has had spending power the club has never seen before since they came in. It’s not their fault him and Parry f**ked up the Barry/Keane situation. It’s not their fault Rafa bought a crocked replacement for Xabi and chose to stick with Lucas. It’s not their fault that Babel isn’t anywhere near as good as Rafa thought.
Still, don’t know if he needed to say it.
And I know people are all “oooo it creates on field distractions” …. Chelsea finished ahead of us in the league and knocked us out of the Champions League in a season that they fired their f**king manager out of the blue. Don’t even want to hear that horses**t.