| QUOTE (Bunk Moreland @ Oct 5 2009, 08:41 PM) |
| EDIT: Al Faraj sounds like a high end Indian Restaurant. |
| QUOTE (Ach @ Oct 5 2009, 10:33 PM) |
| Havent they been taken over and sold like 49483 times over the last couple of years? |
| QUOTE (Jack Bauer @ Oct 5 2009, 10:38 PM) |
| They've been bought by Al Fahim, not Al Faraj. |
| QUOTE (Jack Bauer @ Oct 5 2009, 10:38 PM) |
| They've been bought by Al Fahim, not Al Faraj. |
| QUOTE (The Wengerbabies @ Oct 5 2009, 09:40 PM) | ||
And then sold by Al Fahim and bought by Al Faraj |
| QUOTE |
| PORTSMOUTH are set to appoint Avram Grant as their new director of football. The news will be confirmed later today at a press conference and heap more pressure on under-pressure Pompey boss Paul Hart. The Premier League strugglers lost their opening seven games of the season — the worst start in the competition's history — but won their first points of the campaign by beating Wolves 1-0 last weekend. The south coast club remain bottom of the table but are under new ownership after billionaire Saudi businessman Ali Al-Faraj bought Sulaiman Al-Fahim's controlling stake earlier this week. In June 2006, Grant took the role of technical director at Fratton Park, but left to join Chelsea as director of football a year later. The Israeli replaced Jose Mourinho as Chelsea boss in September 2007, but failed to win any silverware with the Blues and parted ways with the Londoners in May last year. Grant's return to Portsmouth will be his first role in football since leaving Stamford Bridge. |
| QUOTE (Jack Bauer @ Oct 5 2009, 10:38 PM) |
| They've been bought by Al Fahim, not Al Faraj. |
| QUOTE (Jack Will Score @ Oct 7 2009, 09:49 PM) |
| how much money does the new owner actually have? |
| QUOTE (fakeyank @ Oct 8 2009, 03:09 PM) | ||
More than the whole of GW put together... but that isnt saying much! EDIT: May be if we still had Nine around, we couldve given Pompey's new owner a close fight but.. :( |
| QUOTE |
| New Portsmouth owner is NOT a billionaire and plans to sell up in just six months Portsmouth’s new owner Ali Al Faraj last night revealed he is NOT a billionaire and knows nothing about football. He also plans to sell the Premier League's bottom club in six months time and said he was persuaded to buy the club when he was persuaded he could make a profit. Al Faraj was billed as Pompey’s saviour when he bought them from fellow Middle East businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim earlier this month. Manager Paul Hart believed he would get money to spend as he battled to lift them off the Premier League bottom spot. But speaking for the first time since taking control, the Saudi Arabian property tycoon has admitted having to borrow £5 million to pay last month’s wages. Al Faraj, who is looking for new investors to steer Pompey to financial stability, said: “We are going to purchase the remaining shares in the club by entry of additional partners, whether they are from the Gulf or Europe. “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 investment and in the future we may sell it if we get additional gains. “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. “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.” Portsmouth still owe £10 million to the Inland Revenue, agents and rival Premier League clubs despite wiping out £30 million worth of debts since the turn of the year. Supporters had hoped Al Faraj would stump up the cash to allow manager Paul Hart to spend his way to Premier League survival in the January transfer window. Al Faraj, who describes himself as rich but not a billionaire, added: “We did not have the £5 million pounds (to pay the wages) but we agreed with three banks to finance the acquisition. “They approved it based on the club financial guarantees we provided, such as annual revenue from TV coverage, the income of the club real estate and other assets. “We did not we give these banks any personal guarantee.” Al Faraj also admitted he was reluctant to buy Pompey before being persuaded by legal advisor Mark Jacob he could make a profit. “The British friend of my brother Ahmed 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.” |
| QUOTE |
| Portsmouth last night admitted that the club's new owner, Ali al-Faraj, did talk to a respected Saudi newspaper – 24 hours after claiming the interview had been faked. In the interview, given by Faraj and his brother Ahmed to the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat last week, the businessman admitted to being "no billionaire", said that he had bought Portsmouth for profit and knew nothing about sport. "Our plan is to stay for a period of not less than six months, until the club stands again," he said. "This is based on the fact that purchasing the club was purely an investment ... It's not a secret to hide: we are investors and we have no relation to sports." Portsmouth subsequently denied the interview had taken place, threatening legal action against any media outlets that published details from the article, and issued the following statement on their website on Friday morning: "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. The club believes this is the work of a third party who will also face legal action." But Portsmouth have since removed that statement from their site, and told Observer Sport they now accept Ali al‑Faraj spoke to the newspaper, though they did not comment on the content of the interview and claimed he believed the conversation was not for publication. However, that suggestion was denied by the newspaper, a spokesman issuing the following firm response: "The statement of Portsmouth football club alleging the interview was a fake ... is a very serious matter and a very serious allegation. "We stand by our story. We have the documents and the tapes to support it. No third party was involved. We spoke with Ali and Ahmed al-Faraj. We also spoke with officials at Portsmouth. We have Mr Ali al-Faraj on tape saying to our reporter that his brother Ahmed was authorised to speak [for him]. The story was published on Tuesday, and Ahmed al‑Faraj later contacted our reporter to say they were happy with the interview." Despite Portsmouth's initial threat of legal action, Asharq Al-Awsat has still not heard from the club, and it is not clear whether Portsmouth accept that Faraj made all the comments attributed to him. "No one else from Portsmouth contacted us since the publication," the newspaper's spokesman added. The latest developments will do little to convince supporters that Faraj can finally bring stability to the club, following a chaotic few months. The level of finance available to the manager, Paul Hart, in the next transfer window remains unknown after the Faraj brothers admitted they had borrowed £5m to pay players' salaries earlier this month from financial institutions. Sulaiman al-Fahim, the Portsmouth chairman who sold his controlling interest to Faraj, told Observer Sport he had called on the club's board to hold a meeting as soon as possible to bring "unity" to the various parties. The board have not met since Fahim sold to Faraj. "Now is the time for us to be all together, to be united, so that we can move forward," he said. "I asked for a meeting and they told me to give them some dates." Fahim also said he was content with his 43-day ownership of the club. "It's a profitable investment for me with the result I got after selling 90% of the club." He added that he still has the right to buy land around Fratton Park that may be pivotal in any proposed redevelopment of the stadium for the city's 2018 World Cup bid. |
| QUOTE (The Wengerbabies @ Oct 28 2009, 11:21 AM) |
| There is an embargo on Pompey registering new players. They wont be able to sign anyone in January |