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exit2

By exit2
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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted

The best bit being he's only planning to be there for 6 months......fantastic. I bet he's already looking for prospective buyers.

 

have they even started on the training ground yet...?

 

at the end of the day...if you have $$$$ things move quickly, if you don't....you get articles like this pop up.

Joesaint

Joesaint

Posted
Posted

I've had a thought, did he set up a company and got the loans on the company who payed for them and put the extra dept on pompy and when realises its no big money maker (why previous owner left maybe) and if all goes wrong hell just f off!!

 

Could be wrong but great news anyway, he he

 

PS and as he has not spent a penny he doen not give a T***!!

PaulSaint

PaulSaint

Posted
Posted

Is this it guys, grabbed it from another site that grabbed it while it was up.

 

Al-Faraj admits money was motivation for Pompey takeover

 

 

• Portsmouth's new owner knows nothing about football

• £5m to pay players' wages borrowed from banks

 

Ali al-Faraj, Portsmouth's new owner, has revealed that he knows nothing about football and has bought the club solely for profit.

 

In his first interview since taking over at Fratton Park from Sulaiman al-Fahim, the 40-year-old Saudi businessman did little to convince Portsmouth supporters that they can anticipate a period of stability, admitting that he borrowed the £5m used to pay the players' wages earlier this month from three financial institutions.

 

 

Before his intervention the Premier League club had endured a turbulent few months during which Fahim's protracted takeover ended with the Emirates-based businessman selling control while retaining a 10% share and staying at Portsmouth as non-executive chairman.

 

But speaking to the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Faraj confirmed he is not a billionaire and that he is searching for more partners, which suggests a wish to oust Fahim and buy his shareholding.

 

"We are going to purchase the remaining shares in the club by entry of additional partners, whether they are from the Gulf or Europe," Faraj said. "Our plan is to stay at the club for a period of not less than six months, until the club stands again, benefiting the club as well as us. This is based on the fact that purchasing the club was purely [an] investment, and in the future we may sell it if we get additional gains."

 

Faraj, who is represented on the board by his lawyer Mark Jacob, claimed it was no concern that he knew little about football. "It's not a secret to hide, we are investors and we have no relationship to sports, but at the same time we have an integrated team of legal and technical advisors," he said. "All are working at the club as executives and planners for more than five years, and they know all the details and reasoning. This is natural in the business world."

 

While he described himself as rich but not a billionaire, the disclosure from Faraj, whose brother Ahmed is also on the club's board, that he had to borrow the money to pay the players' wages suggests there may not be any sizeable sum with which the manager, Paul Hart, can buy new players in January. The team are bottom of the league with only three points.

 

"We did not have the £5m but we agreed with three banks to finance the acquisition, and they approved it based on the club financial guarantees we provided, such as annual revenue from TV coverage, and the income of the club real estate and other assets," he said. "We did not we give these banks any personal guarantee." He also conceded that Jacob had to convince him to take over the club as Faraj initially felt Portsmouth, £70m in debt, would not be a sound investment.

 

"The British friend of my brother Ahmed al-Faraj had convinced me that the possibility of investing in the club is very large, and all they have to do is to cover the club's debts, and the gains will be in the short term," he said.

 

The businessman, who owns several properties in London and says he also has a private company there, said that his first real estate deal was a £50,000 investment in a building in Cromwell Road, west London, which he sold for "£1.5m profit".

 

Faraj also admitted to a sense of pride at being portrayed as the saviour of Portsmouth. "We're proud of ourselves as young Saudis to be entering sports investment in England, and proud to see the British media write that two young Saudis rescued an English football club from closure."

EastleighSoulBoy

EastleighSoulBoy

Posted
Posted

If I read this right, al Faraj has borrowed £5m to pay wages. He's levered the loan against future TV revenue and income from the club real estate.

 

Real estate which is actually owned by Comical Ali, who has now fallen out with Al Faraj.

 

Ali is now looking to be more clever than we gave him credit for.

 

I love it when a plan falls apart!

Professor

Professor

Posted
Posted

We might find this extra interesting because of the local rivalry, but its a very bad sign of what is going wrong with English football. What about when Marcus Leibherr decides to sell up, which will happen at some point? Its great at the momentbut who might Saints next owner be? Football clubs, privately owned by a single individual are an unhealthy development and we should hope that some form of shared ownership with a guaranteed local input will one day be imposed by the football authorrities.

CB Fry

CB Fry

Posted
Posted
Is this it guys, grabbed it from another site that grabbed it while it was up.

 

/////etc/////

 

 

 

 

I think the reason the Guardian took it down is because it is not true - ie Fahim didn't give this interview.

 

So for now let's assume that is the case, when I read it it reads like a bit of a hoax, especially the "six months" line which is just silly and even the looniest owner wouldn't say that.

Danish Saint

Danish Saint

Posted
Posted
We might find this extra interesting because of the local rivalry, but its a very bad sign of what is going wrong with English football. What about when Marcus Leibherr decides to sell up, which will happen at some point? Its great at the momentbut who might Saints next owner be? Football clubs, privately owned by a single individual are an unhealthy development and we should hope that some form of shared ownership with a guaranteed local input will one day be imposed by the football authorrities.

 

You might be right somewhere along the line, but for the moment I'll just sit back and laugh at Pompey :)

Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted

I posted the original Guardian link within minutes of the story breaking, onto the thread about Pompey - our position or theirs. But I had to dig for that thread which had almost disappeared off the face off the earth into General Sports.

 

As that thread could easily have been updated on here instead of starting another thread, why can't we leave it up here on the main board? If the Mods consider that it is not Saints related, then IMO they are wrong. The thread generated so much interest purely because Pompey are our main local rivals. Surely from that perpective, they are irrevocably linked to us and what happens to them is of interest and related to us one way or another, often at a personal level where fans of both teams work together.

saintbletch

saintbletch

Posted
Posted
I think the reason the Guardian took it down is because it is not true - ie Fahim didn't give this interview.

 

So for now let's assume that is the case, when I read it it reads like a bit of a hoax, especially the "six months" line which is just silly and even the looniest owner wouldn't say that.

 

I agree. It reads as if it's a hoax.

 

If not, then the interviewee has either not been trained in dealing with the media at all, or he has no absolutely no awareness of the sensitivities of what he is saying.

 

There is definitely something fishy about this Storrie.

lordswoodsaints

lordswoodsaints

Posted
Posted

Although I hate to say it.....

I do feel sorry for the true Pompey fans,you have to cast your minds back to our takeover circus and the feelings that went with it.

 

They should have taken note of our rapid demise,falling from a decent prem team to a L1 joke and acted to prevent the same thing happening.......instead they continued to pay stupid wages to has Beens and journeymen,giving redknapp free reign in the transfer Market and all the time demanding £40 a ticket for 3rd world facilities.

 

It was a car crash waiting to happen......and the skidding has started.

krissyboy31

krissyboy31

Posted
Posted

Apparently came from a Saudi newspaper but P*mpey are denying it saying that the quotes are untrue and there has been no interview. They are now taking legal action against the Saudi newspaper.

Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted

So the original story, whether right or wrong, says that Al Fahaj is only in it as an investment with a short time return of 6 months, when he would have found other investors to take over the reins. In the meantime, loans to pay players' wages have been secured against Pompey's property assets rather than coming from borrowings secured against the Al Faraj brothers' personal wealth, which is apparently much less than thought.

 

But then there is another story stating that the other fake sheik, Fahim, who first appeared to be the clown prince, might not have been as stupid as first thought, as he claims to have secured the rights to the property assets for a fairly minimal amount. (I was going to say for the contents of his piggy bank, but he wouldn't have one of those, would he? ;) ) Now, the implications of that would be that if true, those property assets would not be available as security for a loan without Fahim's agreement. The further implication is that the Al Faraj brothers would appear to be confused as to what they had bought, if they thought that there was profit to be made by exploiting the property assets themselves or using them as enticements towards external investment. I was going to say that they might have been sold a pig in a poke, but again one has to be careful with such analogies. ;)

 

So the questions need to be asked as to whether any of these press releases have any substance at all, or are they mischief-making and for what purpose? Whatever the situation, it does not exactly instill confidence. It is very disruptive at a time when Pompey need unity and allied to the stories that the chief executive is being investigated for tax fraud as well, PFC looks to be a poisoned challice that most potential investors would do well to steer clear of.

 

If they are relegated, which seems increasingly likely, then they are truly sunk, as the main attraction for investors would be their Premiership status and once that has gone, there is very little left of any real value, especially if the property assets are used as leverage towards increased debts.

Toadhall Saint

Toadhall Saint

Posted
Posted
So the original story, whether right or wrong, says that Al Fahaj is only in it as an investment with a short time return of 6 months, when he would have found other investors to take over the reins. In the meantime, loans to pay players' wages have been secured against Pompey's property assets rather than coming from borrowings secured against the Al Faraj brothers' personal wealth, which is apparently much less than thought.

 

But then there is another story stating that the other fake sheik, Fahim, who first appeared to be the clown prince, might not have been as stupid as first thought, as he claims to have secured the rights to the property assets for a fairly minimal amount. (I was going to say for the contents of his piggy bank, but he wouldn't have one of those, would he? ;) ) Now, the implications of that would be that if true, those property assets would not be available as security for a loan without Fahim's agreement. The further implication is that the Al Faraj brothers would appear to be confused as to what they had bought, if they thought that there was profit to be made by exploiting the property assets themselves or using them as enticements towards external investment. I was going to say that they might have been sold a pig in a poke, but again one has to be careful with such analogies. ;)

 

So the questions need to be asked as to whether any of these press releases have any substance at all, or are they mischief-making and for what purpose? Whatever the situation, it does not exactly instill confidence. It is very disruptive at a time when Pompey need unity and allied to the stories that the chief executive is being investigated for tax fraud as well, PFC looks to be a poisoned challice that most potential investors would do well to steer clear of.

 

If they are relegated, which seems increasingly likely, then they are truly sunk, as the main attraction for investors would be their Premiership status and once that has gone, there is very little left of any real value, especially if the property assets are used as leverage towards increased debts.

 

If I were one of that lot down the road I'd be very worried about securing loans against the ground (their only real asset - I say asset but that is just a term I use loosly). If anything goes wrong they will be royaly ****ed.

Whitey Grandad

Whitey Grandad

Posted
Posted
We might find this extra interesting because of the local rivalry, but its a very bad sign of what is going wrong with English football. What about when Marcus Leibherr decides to sell up, which will happen at some point? Its great at the momentbut who might Saints next owner be? Football clubs, privately owned by a single individual are an unhealthy development and we should hope that some form of shared ownership with a guaranteed local input will one day be imposed by the football authorrities.

Indeed, professor, we should enjoy the ride whilst we can. One can only hope that an astute businessman such as Herr Liebherr will have ensured the security of his succession but if, God forbid, anything should happen to our club's saviour who knows what might follow?

 

I once met a president of an american company which made tv studio equipment and he said to me "Nobody's indispensable. Kennedy get's shot and we've got a new president in 5 minutes". This same gentleman died a couple of years later of a heart attack but his company continued without him. At my age, succession planning looms larger every year.

 

Carpe diem!

sir woody

sir woody

Posted
Posted

The Guardian have retracted the story, stating that the interview given to the saudi newspaper was given by an imposter and not Faraj. Portsmouth have issued a statement confirming this less than 5 minutes ago and have issued legal proceedings. Worrying times though for them, whatever's true.

Verbal

Verbal

Posted
Posted
The Guardian have retracted the story, stating that the interview given to the saudi newspaper was given by an imposter and not Faraj. Portsmouth have issued a statement confirming this less than 5 minutes ago and have issued legal proceedings. Worrying times though for them, whatever's true.

 

In which case, we're back to square one. Who the hell IS Faraj? (And I should probably withdraw my previous post responding to krissy!)

krissyboy31

krissyboy31

Posted
Posted

Posted on the Them or Us thread in Gen Sport!

 

PFC Statement

 

 

Portsmouth FC owner Ali Al Faraj would like to assure fans that quotes attributed to him in a Saudi Arabian newspaper and subsequently published in some of today's tabloid press, are completely false and untrue.

 

Mr Al Faraj has not given any interviews to any form of the media and legal proceedings will now begin against the publications that published the alleged quotes and interview.

 

The club believes this is the work of a third party who will also face legal action.

 

The same Saudi Arabian newspaper last week published a story on Portsmouth FC quoting Sulaiman al Fahim and the content was subsequently retracted.

Junior Mullet

Junior Mullet

Posted
Posted

I have heard that Pompey have only a few weeks to pay their main creditor before they have the carpet pulled from under their feet.

 

Personally I think they'll be happier in the CCC or Div 1 with ticket prices etc that the average Pompey working man can afford.

 

Classic case of what goes up must come down.

CanadaSaint

CanadaSaint

Posted
Posted

So al‑Faraj certainly did make those comments to the newspaper but "believed the conversation was not for publication."

 

WTF did he think it was for?

 

Fun? Foreplay?

 

Intellectually and financially he seems well-suited for Pompey.

 

The way things stand, on and off the pitch, I'd say they're even better candidates for administration than we were. And we were a much better rescue proposition than they are.

 

After what we've been through I still can't help feeling sorry for the many decent fans who follow Pompey.

rallyboy

rallyboy

Posted
Posted

I shall be down there tomorrow for the Great South Run, I hope their triumphant open-top bus homecoming from the point at Hull doesn't get in the way of the runners.

 

Like Hank Marvin, we've been in the shadows too long but the ship is sinking, the future is red and white.

 

Storrie and Redknapp traded the whole club for a 1-0 win over Cardiff City, and it's nearly time to pay up.

I hope they still think it was worth it.

Keglin

Keglin

Posted
Posted

Fool me once (Gaydamak), shame on you; fool me twice (al-Fahim), shame on me.

 

So who are they going to blame third time round for al-Faraj.

 

(Peter Storrie sneaks out of the room!!!!!!)

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