Russian billionaire's son becomes co-owner of Pompey

phenom

Pompey strike ownership deal

Businessman Alexandre Gaydamak is set to become joint owner of Portsmouth after striking a deal with chairman Milan Mandaric.

The 30-year-old French national, who is son of a Russian billionaire, is due to be an 'equal partner' at Fratton Park and is reportedly set to provide fresh investment into the club.

A statement declared: 'Portsmouth Football Club today confirmed it has reached an agreement in principle with Mr Alexandre Gaydamak over the future shareholding and development of the club.

'Chairman Milan Mandaric will be delighted to welcome 30-year-old Alexandre Gaydamak to the club as an equal partner.'

Gaydamak's father, Arcadi, is the owner of Israeli side Beitar Jerusalem but has lived permanently in Moscow since 2002.

A spokesman for Gaydamak senior declared he was 'crazy about football', and the passion apparently extends to his son.

Portsmouth stressed the arrival of Gaydamak would have no effect on manager Harry Redknapp's position.

Rather than threaten Redknapp's future at the club, so soon after his controversial return from a year at Southampton, the deal could provide the manager with more funds to spend in this month's transfer window.

Portsmouth remain ensconced in a relegation battle, although seven points from four games since Redknapp's arrival have put them in a far stronger position from which to escape the drop.

Redknapp is keen to strengthen the side he inherited from Alain Perrin, which he considers inferior to the squad he left behind in November 2004.

According to Portsmouth, Gaydamak's arrival is designed to ease the burden on Mandaric, who plans to spend more time with his family.

However, the club added of Mandaric: 'Portsmouth Football Club will continue to be his prime concern.'

It should also help Pompey with their development plans, which involve a facelift for Fratton Park and the construction of `Pompey Village', apartments and shops which will border the stadium.

Portsmouth's statement added: 'Contrary to press reports this morning, there is no question of Harry Redknapp's position as manager of the club being under threat.

'He will have the full backing of Mr Alexandre Gaydamak and will continue to enjoy the full support of Milan Mandaric.'

Reports had suggested £100million would be made available for new players, affording Pompey a financial clout second only in the Barclays Premiership to Chelsea, who are owned by Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Portsmouth have not gone into detail in that respect, and the Gaydamak family's wealth is thought not to get close to Abramovich's vast fortune.

While Alexandre has lived in Britain for a great part of the past decade, his father is involved in various industrial enterprises in Russia and owns a medium-sized bank and brokerage company.

Gaydamak senior is also the president of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organisations of Russia and a donor to various charities.

Paris magistrates issued an arrest warrant for him in 2000, seeking to question him over an alleged arms-for-oil deal with Angola in the early 1990s.

Gaydamak senior insisted his involvement in the deal was as part of a legitimate agreement between the governments of Russia and Angola.

Jean-Christophe Mitterand, the son of former French president Francois Mitterand, was given a 30-month suspended sentence for his involvement in that affair.

Involvement with Beitar Jerusalem has seen the team's fortunes turn for the better, and former France midfielder Luis Fernandez was recently appointed as coach.

Little remains known about his son, but Gaydamak senior has shown his enthusiasm for the Israeli side by bringing in the likes of 31-year-old former Lens midfielder Jerome Leroy, beating off competition for the player from Marseille.

from http://www.soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=353883&cc=5901

therecklessone

If I were him I'd be keeping a beady eye on Del Boy's dealings in the transfer market in case he p*sses the roubles up against the Fratton Park wall.

Marco Boogers...:D

LostinBlanch

therecklessone wrote:

If I were him I'd be keeping a beady eye on Del Boy's dealings in the transfer market in case he p*sses the roubles up against the Fratton Park wall.

Marco Boogers...:D

No I'm sure he'll get his cut in the money laundering scam*. Look at another club that has a Russian billionaire owner and see what someone who was suspicious minded might see:

1. Smertin signed for Chelski two days after CSKA Moscow had sold him to Bordeaux, and he was promptly loaned to Portsmouth for the rest of the season
   
2. Jarosik signed from another Moscow club and was loaned out to Birmingham within months
   
3. Tiago signed for £14 million and was sold for £6 million less than a year later

*alleged; just in case some lawyer types are looking and I haven't expressed myself in a way that gets my point across without being defamatory.

Nice way of laundering money methinks (see * above). Which is one of the reasons why Richard Carborn the English Sports Minister wants FIFA/UEFA to set up an investigation into money laundering in football. If things don't stop now they are going to get a lot worse. But hey we know that Sepp is going to save the day, isn't he

LostinBlanch

Something in no way linked to money laundering and football :rolleyes:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1678131,00.html

Arkady Gaydamak, the father of Portsmouth's new co-owner Alexandre Gaydamak, was yesterday questioned by Israeli police on suspicion of money laundering. It was the third time the Russian-born billionaire has helped with investigations in the past six weeks and he is not free to leave Israel while the inquiry continues.

In a separate and significant twist police reportedly advised the Jewish Agency, an Israeli state organisation in charge of the relationship between Israel and diaspora Jews, not to accept a donation of $50m (£28m) from Gaydamak. Police said it would be unwise for the agency to take money from a suspect source, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

Article continues
Gaydamak responded by announcing he would stop financing Beitar Jerusalem, the football club he owns, and cut support to many other Israeli organisations but later he withdrew the threat. "I am an Israeli, I will stay in Israel, I am living here, my kids are living here, it's my country," Gaydamak said. "Nobody will get me out of here. I have nothing to hide and I know I have done nothing wrong. I am delighted with the investigation."

Harry Redknapp, meanwhile, has not waited long before getting busy in the transfer window, signing the Poland striker Emmanuel Olisadebe to the end of the season. The Nigerian-born 27-year-old, who has 25 caps, joins from Panathinaikos after a two-day trial at Fratton Park last month.

The announcement of the Olisadebe deal came hours after Laurent Robert moved to Benfica. Pompey agreed to cancel Robert's season-long loan from Newcastle, leaving the player free to sign a 3½-year contract with the Portuguese side. "It gives me great satisfaction to join Benfica," he said, "because it's an ambitious club, just as I am."

Vokes

LostinBlanch wrote:

Tiago signed for £14 million

He cost Chelsea 8 million pounds.

Looking forward to see Olisadabe playing. Good move by Harry.

LostinBlanch

SofaKing wrote:

He cost Chelsea 8 million pounds.

Looking forward to see Olisadabe playing. Good move by Harry.

Sofa,

I stand corrected, tell you what I'll split the difference with you and call it 10.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/3904493.stm
"The 23-year-old, who had already passed his medical, has agreed a three-year deal at Stamford Bridge with the fee thought to be about £10m."


Olisadebe looks like he might be a good move by 'Arry. Whatever about his wheeling and dealing he is able to get the right players.

Vokes

Ah but, about halfway down this page: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/4470059.stm

Tiago £8m

Also seen some rumors that Redknapp will put in a bid for Villa's Mark Delaney, which would be a decent signing.

And the ridiculous: that Redknapp will make a move for the unsettled Jermain Defoe !

Rikand

SofaKing wrote:

He cost Chelsea 8 million pounds.

Looking forward to see Olisadabe playing. Good move by Harry.

8 million pounds would be the equivalent to about 14 million euros, so that could have been the confusion there

Lemlin

Rickylovesuall wrote:

8 million pounds would be the equivalent to about 14 million euros, so that could have been the confusion there

It'd only be about 12 million I think Ricky. Not sure though.

Vokes

They're about to sign another striker now:

BBC Radio Solent has reported that Portsmouth have smashed the club transfer record by signing Zimbabwe international Benjani Mwaruwari.

Pompey are believed to have agreed a £4.1m deal with Auxerre for the 27-year-old, subject to a medical.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/4586280.stm

And most importantly for Portsmouth, he can speak English!

Rikand

fair enough then

this whole takeover deal though is a huge blow to what i had predicted at the start of the season

i bet portsmouth, birmingham and sunderland would be the teams to be relegated this season, things were looking very good at me winning this bet up until this takeover news came into being