The long-running saga of the takeover of Portsmouth FC by Al Fahim is moving towards a conclusion. Considerable media activity was generated by a story in the Sunday Mirror which explained the deal needed to be concluded quickly if it was going to happen at all. At first glance Sunday Mirror may look like a simple re-hash of this Blog's previous article:
Previous article
However there has clearly been a crucial development in this long-running saga and this should not pass without comment.
For Al Fahim, locked into a deal that is proving impossible to conclude, there is a real need to be able to save face - the importance of this requirement should not be underestimated.
Gaydamak has now offered a 'deadline' and we believe this will be grasped by Al Fahim as the means to extricate himself from the situation. Publically at least, the relationship can be terminated by Gaydamak on his terms. Al Fahim can insist that this was Gaydamak's decision and that the takoever had remained on track with only the details to be resolved.
Long-suffering Portsmouth fans can expect futher statements from Al Fahim and his aides which explain that "the takeover is proceeding and will soon be concluded". However, it seems that only action from Gaydamak will free Portsmouth from the 'Walter Mitty' world of Sulaiman Al Fahim.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Fair Comment,i assume you haven't realised that The Mirror have now pulled this story from their website?
ReplyDeleteIt may seem that Paul Smith has admitted the article had no real substance, therefore the story has been withdrawn.
Not unreasonable for me to suggest this fact?
Would appreciate your comment on this...
Right, it seems now that the Mirror story has been put back up online again......
ReplyDeleteThis issue needs to be sorted.
There seems to be a lot of 'grasping' going about. Smith on a slender story, Gaydamak on a deadline (to what exactly), Al Fahim to an exit and Faircomment to save face.
ReplyDeleteOnce again as a neutral observer with some inside knowledge. I can confirm some of the story, refute some of the story and laugh at most of the story.
I do find it amazing how people read tabloid stories and think they are written by people with more than a general studies GCSE.
For PFC something will happen regarding the takeover in the next 14 days.
With regards to Hydra no solution will be forthcoming until at least the back end of 2010 or early 2011.
Hope this helps everyone. I must say the only one who deserve any out of all of this is PFC. All the others are just different forms of greed.
As everyone else is stealing new items from the web and c&ping them I thought I would join in.
ReplyDeletePortsmouth takeover still on track
10.08.09 | Ian Ferris
Portsmouth chairman Sulaiman Al Fahim has rejected Saturday reports that his proposed takeover of the club was on the verge of collapsing.
Al Fahim's spokesman told Sky Sports News: "In response to recent unsubstantiated media coverage, the Chairman of the Board of Portsmouth FC, Sulaiman Al Fahim, and Mr. Sacha Gaydamak, Member of the Board of Portsmouth FC, would like to re-affirm that they both remain committed to completing the agreed transaction intended to change the ownership of Portsmouth FC as soon as possible, as provided by the Terms Sheet signed in July.
"With regard to the timing of the transaction, Sulaiman Al Fahim and Sacha Gaydamak stress that following the timely completion of the due diligence process, the approval issued by the Premier League under its 'Fit and Proper Person' test and the signing of the Terms Sheet, the transaction is now in its final stages and the final talks are proceeding on a cordial basis.
"All parties involved are exercising every effort to complete the sale as soon as possible in the best interest of the club and its supporters who are showing an extraordinary level of loyalty to this great club."
Martin,
ReplyDeleteFollowing the Mirror article and an article in a local paper, the club felt that they had to issue a statement. The last two paragraphs in my article explain why the statement is structured as it is.
Hi Fair Comment. I've been following this blog for a while, and a lot of what you write does seem to add up. At the very least, the figures always seem well researched! Being a Pompey fan, naturally I hope that most of what you write is rubbish! I've been hoping for a while that Gaydamak would give Al Fahim an ultimatum - fully understanding that Al Fahim may use it as a means to extricate himself from the deal. For every action in this takeover saga, this blog seems to quickly predict the worst case scenario. I don't know what kind of source would be able to confirm that Al Fahim plans to use any deadline as an excuse to walk away? Especially so soon after a deadline being touted. Or is this just what you (and your source) predict will happen based on Al Fahim's previous behaviour?
ReplyDeleteOnce again I hope your source is wrong again on this! Al Fahim walking away from a deadline seems like an obvious possibility and is not a particularly insightful prediction. But any deadline should hopefully reveal one way or another whether Al Fahim is the person you would have us believe he is.
If he doesn't walk away using the deadline as an excuse, I might suggest that you go back to the day job because this will be proven to be nothing but a vindictive gossip blog. I guess it's crunch time for everyone!
Well written fatheed66. August 31st is the real deadline here in my view. The closer we get with no firm deal then the more likely PFC are to need to sell more players because my guess is that they cannot risk the possibility of not being able to offlaod players until 1st January 2010.
ReplyDeleteSasha is clearly not in a position to keep the club afloat during that period and the 7 day ultimatum would fit in with giving him a 10 day period to sell the players of value to avoid administration.
You are right it's crunch time but if I were a betting man I would be putting money on the takeover falling through.
fatheed66, while I nothing against Faircomment, I must take issue with your view that figures are correct and well researched.
ReplyDeleteThe only figures where Faircomment comes close are actually from the Times article (hardly difficult to research). Indeed the only time Faircomment has 'broken news' He/She has had to quickly backtrack the following.
I do enjoy reading His/Her comments (we sometimes have a wry smile about the sourcing).
As I stated earlier PFC fans will know either way within 14 days, that comes from the horses mouth (It may be good news, it may be bad) either way you PFC fans will know.
This blog is just scaremongering. FACT. What you read here is taking the worst scenarios of all the tabloid rubbish out there and rehasing it together to make one almighty disaster.
ReplyDeleteThen, when there isn't much going on in the world of Pompey and the takeover, he makes up any old rubbish just to keep spreading libelous rumours.
This site is basically a joke.
Kenn, We do take exception your assertion that anything libelous has appeared on this site. Clearly we do not believe Al Fahim to be a force for good in either football or business - however we would not wish to libel him and would not support that.
ReplyDeleteKenn,
ReplyDeleteThere is no libel on this blog.
What is written reflects an opinion and forecast of probable scenarios based on previous history and parallel developments where Al-Fahim is involved.
This is usual analytics and the author is entitled to his/her view and predictions.
It's also enough to talk to hundreds of investors in Hyndra Properties, and the truth about Al-Fahim's management style, attitude to customers and overall character will become apparent.
Great that people in the UK get this information and start learning more about Al-Fahim and some methods widely applied in the Gulf. Those who never lived in GCC will never understand 'the culture'... and some of its characters.