Friday night discussion. Tonight: Milan Mandaric

[hejammy]

Quite honestly we wouldn't be where we are now without him so we have to give him that. What I mean is that who knows if King power would have bought us if it wasn't for him taking over initially. They saw potential maybe because of what he bought and for that level he was in the public eye which put us in the public eye. 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

13 hours ago, mancunianfox said:

This is roughly the first two transfer windows under Mandaric. I feel this needs some kind of Trigger Warning...

 

Summer: DJ Campbell, Josh Low, Radostin Kishishev, Bruno N'Gotty, Carl Cort, Hossein Kaebi, Sergio Hellings, Jamie Clapham.

 

January: Zsolt Lascko, Gabor Bori, Steve Howard, Matt Oakley, Lee Hendrie, Kelvin Etuhu and Barry Hayles. We got Marton Fulop on loan at some point in between who was good until getting recalled.

Pundits bang on about how good our recruitment has become, and it has. But just look at how bad it has been in the recent past. That list is 80% shite.

 

Carl Cort - bloody hell he was useless. Him and Mario Futacs up front in my all time LCFC worst 11 I think.

[davieG]

10 minutes ago, hejammy said:

Quite honestly we wouldn't be where we are now without him so we have to give him that. What I mean is that who knows if King power would have bought us if it wasn't for him taking over initially. They saw potential maybe because of what he bought and for that level he was in the public eye which put us in the public eye. 

KP had been interested in LCFC long before Manderic turned up. Top become attracted to us in one of the League Cup Finals under MON?

 

"The first football match Vichai watched in England was the 1997 League Cup Final between Leicester City and Middlesbrough",  This is what is said to have attracted him.

 

It's all ifs and buts you can never be sure of what the alternative options may have brought.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Appointed Big Nige and therefore set the wheels in motion.

[Collymore]

16 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

Carl Cort - bloody hell he was useless

We've had far worse. 

 

Never forget his performance against Chelsea away when we lost 4-3 in the cup, he was unbelievably good that night. 

[hejammy]

8 minutes ago, davieG said:

KP had been interested in LCFC long before Manderic turned up. Top become attracted to us in one of the League Cup Finals under MON?

 

"The first football match Vichai watched in England was the 1997 League Cup Final between Leicester City and Middlesbrough",  This is what is said to have attracted him.

 

It's all ifs and buts you can never be sure of what the alternative options may have brought.

This may all well be true and Top having "heard of us" for the first time in 1997 but that doesn't mean that he would have bought us if it were not for MM. As you say ifs and buts but what happened, happened and you can only say it was a blessing. Our new owners are probably the best owners any Premier league club have had (OK we have blue tinted specs, but still) 

[suffolk fox]

13 hours ago, Head Honcho said:

Portsmouth were crippled by contracts dished out under previous owners and the terms of their administration.

 

After three consecutive months of not being paid players gave them two weeks notice and found other clubs. Despite these players leaving on free transfers and signing contracts with new clubs when they went in to receivership these players registered themselves as creditors. Several years later when Portsmouth were playing in League 2 they were still paying players as much as £5k a week.

 

Two dozen players were paid £7m over three years despite the fact that they were earning at their new clubs...shame on them.       Nugent, Etutu, Ben Haim, Kanu, Benjani, James and Lawrence to name a few.

Not the players fault they were given ludicrous comtracts in the first place.  You sign a contract you expect your employers to honour said contract.  I dont blame the players at all.  I too would want to be paid my money in these circumstances.  No shame on the players at all.  Bear in mind Harry Redknapp was the manager at the time how much of a wedge did he take?

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

5 minutes ago, Collymore said:

We've had far worse. 

 

Never forget his performance against Chelsea away when we lost 4-3 in the cup, he was unbelievably good that night. 

I had actually forgotten about that game.

 

Wikipedia says he had an absolutely lethal record of 0 goals in 14 appearances.

[Collymore]

Oooops

 

Edited 6 March 2021 by Collymore

[Collymore]

40 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

I had actually forgotten about that game.

 

Wikipedia says he had an absolutely lethal record of 0 goals in 14 appearances.

...and I still rated him which sums up the state of affairs at the time haha

 

Also, the same game Levi Porter came on and looked world class for about 10 minutes. 

[TJB-fox]

48 minutes ago, suffolk fox said:

Not the players fault they were given ludicrous comtracts in the first place.  You sign a contract you expect your employers to honour said contract.  I dont blame the players at all.  I too would want to be paid my money in these circumstances.  No shame on the players at all.  Bear in mind Harry Redknapp was the manager at the time how much of a wedge did he take?

Quite a few Pompey boys ended up leaving and not even getting paid their dues because it was such a mess at the time and horrendous having to chase it up. 

[TJB-fox]

47 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

I had actually forgotten about that game.

 

Wikipedia says he had an absolutely lethal record of 0 goals in 14 appearances.

Shame Cort was so bad here because he’d been pretty handy in his younger days. Had a decent goal scoring record

[Langston]

I've never bought that romanticised notion that a young Top in Bangkok had some affinity with us after he watched Kamaark's man marking job on Juninho. They've been exemplary but that's almost clearly bollocks.

[Grebfromgrebland]

17 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I am not 100% convinced he really saved us from disaster.

He saw us drop to our worst ever league position.

He got lucky selling us to our current owners, but not as lucky as we did.

He completely saved us. He came when we needed him and sold us at exactly the right time to the right owners.

 

There was a horrible time pre Mandaric and I always thought he had good intentions while he was here. As football fans we've been very lucky to have the roller coaster of the last 30 years.

[dayday]

THE man who sold Leicester City to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha says his death is a loss to the entire football world.

Milan Mandaric felt scarred after selling his previous club Portsmouth to the wrong owner, with disastrous consequences for Pompey.
 

So he was initially suspicious when he first met Thai tycoon Srivaddhanaprabha in the summer of 2010.

Yet just 30 minutes later, he was so convinced Vichai was the real deal he was shaking hands on the £39million sale of the Foxes.

In an exclusive interview, Serbian-American businessman Mandaric said: “I couldn’t be more proud of the fact I was responsible for selling Leicester to Vichai.

“This story is not legend, it’s correct — I sold the club to him in 30 minutes!

 

“I’d always deeply regretted leaving Pompey in the hands of the wrong buyer.

“Leicester held a place deep in my heart, so I had to be absolutely sure I was leaving it in safe hands.

“An agent told me he knew of a guy from Thailand who wanted to buy an English club. But before I even agreed the club was for sale I had to meet him personally to find out who he was and what his intentions were.

“So we met and Vichai told me about his love for sport and how he was into polo but also wanted to put something into football.

 

“I explained how I felt about leaving a club I loved in the wrong hands at Portsmouth. Vichai gave me a big smile and said, ‘You don’t have to worry about me!’

“He was really relaxed, friendly, a good communicator and enjoyable to talk to. He explained what he wanted to achieve with Leicester and promised to make it a focal point for the city — something everyone in Leicester could be proud of.

 

“I was very impressed and told him he better follow this up. I said, ‘I know you have a big car but money is one thing. How many owners have money but don’t have the right character, the right intentions?’ He told me he would look after the club and respect its traditions.

“I looked him in the eye and told him I had to leave this club in good hands because of my past history with Portsmouth. But in no time at all I realised he was a bit special, definitely someone I could do business with.

 

“His death is not just a great loss for Leicester City. The English game will feel this. It is a loss for the entire football world.”

Mandaric was stunned to see the reports of Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter crash after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham.

He said: “Saturday broke the heart of all of us who knew Vichai.

“He was a very special man. Not only did he love the Leicester players and supporters — he also loved the people of the CITY of Leicester.

“All I would promise Leicester fans is that his son, Top, is just as passionate about the club and shares his father’s values. They are a great, great family.”

[David Hankey]

30 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

He completely saved us. He came when we needed him and sold us at exactly the right time to the right owners.

 

There was a horrible time pre Mandaric and I always thought he had good intentions while he was here. As football fans we've been very lucky to have the roller coaster of the last 30 years.

Pity the Thais didn't come in then. I doubt whether we would have dipped into League 1 had they done so. Mandaric also admitted he sold Pompey to the wrong people, fortunately he didn't repeat that error. Mandaric's so-called "good intentions" started with a 3 year plan which turned out not to work, didn't invest in players and, remember, he bought the Club for £25M and sold it for £40M. Draw your own conclusions!!

[Grebfromgrebland]

2 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

Pity the Thais didn't come in then. I doubt whether we would have dipped into League 1 had they done so. Mandaric also admitted he sold Pompey to the wrong people, fortunately he didn't repeat that error. Mandaric's so-called "good intentions" started with a 3 year plan which turned out not to work, didn't invest in players and, remember, he bought the Club for £25M and sold it for £40M. Draw your own conclusions!!

You've still not said what the issue is or what he did wrong.

[Blue ROI]

16 hours ago, Corky said:

Why he didn't convince Vichai and Top they had a perfectly good manager and any takeover came with a man who had nearly delivered consecutive promotions in charge is beyond me. Sticking with Pearson and good financial backing and I think we may've been promoted in 2011.

 

Even at Portsmouth their best manager walked out before being asked to return.

I reckon they were swayed by manager reputations as shown by Sousa and Sven. Sousa is probably the best of a bad bunch but he was on a hiding to nothing taking over from Pearson.Clearly they misjudged what Pearson had done. The stability of 09-10 compared to the wreckage of 01-08 was obvious even then. 

 

Thankfully after the Sven debacle they knew about the error of their ways and brought Big Nige back in. Not many owners would have realised their mistake. We can be grateful they did. 

 

[David Hankey]

1 hour ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

You've still not said what the issue is or what he did wrong.

Took us into the third tier for the first time ever and was only here to make money for himself. I think that is enough.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

2 hours ago, Blue ROI said:

I reckon they were swayed by manager reputations as shown by Sousa and Sven. Sousa is probably the best of a bad bunch but he was on a hiding to nothing taking over from Pearson.Clearly they misjudged what Pearson had done. The stability of 09-10 compared to the wreckage of 01-08 was obvious even then. 

 

Thankfully after the Sven debacle they knew about the error of their ways and brought Big Nige back in. Not many owners would have realised their mistake. We can be grateful they did. 

 

I was gutted Sven didn’t work out and was convinced we’d get to the Premier League under him. And we nearly got into the playoffs when he first took over and then momentum stalled. Some of the football was fantastic as well. Shame it didn’t work out, but you can hardly moan about the rest of the story.

[Langston]

Sven's loan side was fantastic for a few months in 10/11, the one with Naughton and Yakubu. Then I think we lost away at Cardiff (?) as it looked like we were pressuring the top 6 and the season sort of fizzled out.

[SystonFox]

I remember when he was vaguely linked with buying us I made a “Milan mandarics blue and white army” bedsheet in blue spray paint and unfurled it at the back of the stand in sk1. It got a few giggles but even I didn’t think it was serious. 
 

he’s the reason we are where we are today really. So glad he passed us on to decent owners.

 

also remember following him down to Southend away league 1 title win. Pretty sure his roller or Bentley had LCFC1 number plate?

[CosbehFox]

2 hours ago, Langston said:

Sven's loan side was fantastic for a few months in 10/11, the one with Naughton and Yakubu. Then I think we lost away at Cardiff (?) as it looked like we were pressuring the top 6 and the season sort of fizzled out.

There were a few results what did us. 
Losing to Norwich at home three days after a champagne win at Derby. Cocking up a lead at Middlesborough and Jimmy Kebe having a field day at Reading 

 

Just looked it up, you are right with Cardiff too. Beat Bristol City on the Friday night meaning we were 6th before the Saturday games. Then lost on Tuesday away at Cardiff 

Edited 6 March 2021 by Cardiff_Fox