Milan Mandaric

[21st Century Fox]

Like him or not he did save us from possible oblivion. You'll probably find you're paying out ridiculous sums in agents fees rather than transfer fees though. At the end of the day he's a business man but he's atleast a business man with some football knowledge, although that doesn't always show when he's hiring managers. I get the impression he's always looking for a 'Arry Redknapp type character that is charismatic enough to win over fans but ultimately does as he's told.

Long and short, don't believe a word he says but he may sort you out with better owners at some point 50/50.

[fleckneymike]

Like him or not he did save us from possible oblivion. You'll probably find you're paying out ridiculous sums in agents fees rather than transfer fees though. At the end of the day he's a business man but he's atleast a business man with some football knowledge, although that doesn't always show when he's hiring managers. I get the impression he's always looking for a 'Arry Redknapp type character that is charismatic enough to win over fans but ultimately does as he's told.

Long and short, don't believe a word he says but he may sort you out with better owners at some point 50/50.

But he didn't save us from oblivion. We were never in any danger of going into admin.

[21st Century Fox]

But he didn't save us from oblivion. We were never in any danger of going into admin.

Surely we couldn't have keep going for much longer, judging by the fact that he was able to buy us for £500,000 means that we had debts that far outweighed any assets we had.

[fleckneymike]

Surely we couldn't have keep going for much longer, judging by the fact that he was able to buy us for £500,000 means that we had debts that far outweighed any assets we had.

That was the cost of buying the shares. He offered below their value on the promise to pay full price should we be promoted. The reason he got them cheap was because those who invested did so to save the club, not to make any money from it, they sold at a loss and faced the prospect of making their money back at absolute best.

[Guest MattP]

That was the cost of buying the shares. He offered below their value on the promise to pay full price should we be promoted. The reason he got them cheap was because those who invested did so to save the club, not to make any money from it, they sold at a loss and faced the prospect of making their money back at absolute best.

This. Those shareholders were the real ones who saved the club.

Owl fans - You just have to hope Mandaric gets lucky like he did with us and Pearson, nothing good will come on anything he does, question every single thing he says, in fact be inclined to believe the opposite.

[liamsm]

The blokes a crook.

We only ended up in a better postion due to him getting lucky with Nigel Pearson who worked miracles on a shoestring budget!

Your better off without

All this saved the club is bollocks aswell

Are you a trees fan in disguise ? without Milan we would not be in existance

[1964FOX]

Milan is a very clever business man, he has made millions out of both Portsmouth and Leicester. In fairness we appear to have struck lucky with our new owners but only time will tell on that one. Whilst he is at your club you will be financially stable as his personal wealth wil act as a guarantor against any debt the club has. However, it is clear that as soon as the business project (your football club) is ripe to turn a profit he will sell and take the money. Its 50-50 as too how that will leave you after that.

I do believe he has a genuine love of football,. He has devised a method of being involved in football and making money so I am sure he is a very happy man.

[Guest MattP]

Are you a trees fan in disguise ? without Milan we would not be in existance

[21st Century Fox]

That was the cost of buying the shares. He offered below their value on the promise to pay full price should we be promoted. The reason he got them cheap was because those who invested did so to save the club, not to make any money from it, they sold at a loss and faced the prospect of making their money back at absolute best.

Good point, I do remember reading that now. I'm not sure how we would have done on the pitch without further investment, but he was about at the time with his chequebook I guess.

[The Doctor]

Are you a trees fan in disguise? without Milan we would not be in existence

What makes you think that?

[Simmo86]

What makes you think that?

Because Milan said it, so it must be true.................

[Father Ted]

He's a crook who has got lucky along the way. He promised to get us into the Prem etc, wasted about £2million on DJ Campbell and then the money dried up.

Fortunately, we had Pearson who got us out of League 1 signing players from the lower leagues and loan players.

He did the same at Portsmouth.

Somebody I know said that the only money he pumped into the club was through transfers and wages, he didn't pay any of the debts off, he just covered them and didn't pay/didn't pay as much as he should have to the shareholders and made a BIG profit when selling to the Thai's.

Plus he's a communist cnut.

[21st Century Fox]

He's a crook who has got lucky along the way. He promised to get us into the Prem etc, wasted about £2million on DJ Campbell and then the money dried up.

Fortunately, we had Pearson who got us out of League 1 signing players from the lower leagues and loan players.

He did the same at Portsmouth.

Somebody I know said that the only money he pumped into the club was through transfers and wages, he didn't pay any of the debts off, he just covered them and didn't pay/didn't pay as much as he should have to the shareholders and made a BIG profit when selling to the Thai's.

Plus he's a communist cnut.

Ok that bit I disagree with, he was hounded by the communists for being a "Capitalist traitor".

[Father Ted]

Ok that bit I disagree with, he was hounded by the communists for being a "Capitalist traitor".

Well, I'm a Serb Royalist and I know for a FACT that his whole family were communists...

[cc_star]

I'm in the anti Mandaric camp for the following reasons.

1. He bought the club on the cheap when completely unfounded rumours of admin appeared in the Daily Mirror. It was reported by 'sources' that he would buy us for £25 million thus saving us from administration (even though we were't in danger of going into admin). He actually bought us for £500k.

2. He 'saved' us from relegation in his first season by sacking Rob Kelly and appointing Nigel Worthington, only he didn't, Kelly (for all his limitations) had amassed enough points prior to his sacking to keep us up.

3. He bought in players without the managers knowledge. He's admitted to buying Bruno N'Gotty from Brum prior to us having a manager. He brought in Loanees when we were between managers, none of these played.

4. He appointed a director of football Don Mackay who worked alongside Lil Fuccillo and signed Sergio Hellings, Jimmy Neilson, Kaebi. They then mysteriously left in double quick time after just 6 weeks and the listed players amassed 3 first team appearances between them. There are people who know why they left.

5. He has a woeful track record in appointing managers and got lucky with Pearson when he was recommended to him by Lee Hoos.

6. He managed to get rid of Pearson by courting Sousa.

7. He managed to reside over our first ever relegation to the third tier of English football.

Now in his defence in his first full season of ownership he did bring in players costing money, so he was willing to invest initially, but every season from that point on he cut back and cut back. He's bought Wednesday for exactly the same reason he bought us and that is to make a quick buck.

1. He had to pay £1m to each of the 6 stakeholders who had spent £6m 'saving' us... That was a sticking point for a while and I don't know what he did pay in the end, but I remember those people wanting their £6m back

2. Rob Kelly was dismissed because Milan wanted us to rise up the the table, not just avoid relegation.

3. Yes he likes to interfere but any manager he hires would know that so it's hardly a trip into the unknown, he obviously see's it as his money he can do what he wants

4. Yup, more interfering probably

5. Yes a woeful record of managers, however Worthington failed to show he was capable of leading us to the right end of the table, he had to go, especially considering how heavily MM was planning on backing a manager that summer. Allen was promising and on paper was a good move - Manderic also heavily backed him in the transfer market, when it turned out he couldn't run a bath nevermind a football team he went. Manderic realised his mistake in backing a manager so well with 13-14 signings. He then brought Megson in out the cold, who had very little hope of getting a job, but was shat on by him who got another job after being given a chance by Milan. He then appointed Holloway who had guided little Plymouth to the brink of promotion to the Prem league, a great appointment on paper, but he was simply dreadful, everyone & especially Milan had the right to expect better from him. Again, he had to go, then he got Pearson in, which was obviously a great appointment. The only managerial mistake I can see, was 100% needlessly courting Sousa when Pearson had done so well, but I still think the Thai's who had obviously already made contact had a hand in that, and wanted a manager who could play pure football (making it a more palateable 'sell' in Thailand rather than Pearson's style. But even when Sousa did join us, there was no way of knowing just how inept he was, it was like Allen all over again. I think there's very little he could do with his managerial appointments, they were all taken with right intentions and they either turned out inept of disloyal, with the exception of Pearson, who was & is great.

6 Pearson to Sousa was dreadful, everything about it. I can see that Pearson's strong personality would have pee'd off MM who perhaps wanted to interfere with stuff & Pearson isn't the sort of guy to allow that, I have the nagging doubt however that it wasn't just down to MM, as I think Pearson's style of football might not have been great for the new owners & removing him could have been a takeover negotiation. Shame

7. We were all the stronger for it, just as many clubs who dip down there are, look at Norwich, S'ton, Forest, Brighton. If we didn't make the drop, we'd probably still be bumbling around the bottom of the champs every year

I think he went about things wrong, he's also possibly a crook - and I'd worry about any land/building assets that are in the clubs name in case he sells them off. However as I mentioned previously, all of his decision are about making money and the only way he can profit from either situation was to bring about relative success, fans want this relative success so in a way MM wants want the fans want, apart from his potential crookedness I don't have a problem with him. We certainly wouldn't have bounced high enough for rich overseas businessmen to notice us, without him... Although whether that's a good thing or not is still being 'written'

[davieG]

Good point, I do remember reading that now. I'm not sure how we would have done on the pitch without further investment, but he was about at the time with his chequebook I guess.

We may have got relegated to League 1, but he wouldn't let that happen would he. Oh hang on................................

[21st Century Fox]

We may have got relegated to League 1, but he wouldn't let that happen would he. Oh hang on................................

Granted, but we could have free fallen like Plymouth.

[CosbehFox]

Granted, but we could have free fallen like Plymouth.

Plymouth are a club with a long history of 3rd and 4th tier football, they were over-achieving. It was no surprise that when the enthusiasm dropped, it's gone downhill.

We'd be with no Milan, like the other decent supported clubs.

[21st Century Fox]

I'm not exactly sticking up for the guy, I was merely pointing out it could have been a hell of a lot worse, we weren't exactly rolling in offers and potential suitors.

[sphericalfox]

Here's my thoughts back in November on Milan, and also about Smegson in March.

Who Really Wants a Milannaire?

The Ginger Mourinho

Do share it with Owl friends if they haven't read it already.

[Mack]

Cash no receipt? Certainly Sir!

[21st Century Fox]

Here's my thoughts back in November on Milan, and also about Smegson in March.

Who Really Wants a Milannaire?

The Ginger Mourinho

Do share it with Owl friends if they haven't read it already.

Great read. It made me think that Milan's more of a salvager rather than a long term owner, he finds an old MG lying in a barn somewhere, he doesn't really fix the engine because he's not really intending on driving it far but he gives it a lick of paint and talks someone whose possibly looking for a longer ride into buying it.

[Daggers]

Mandaric was an odious, lying little cvnt. We would not have gone bust without him; we would have covered debts through player sales and continued operating.

He came in, wasted millions which were tied to the club as loans and presided over a succession of shockingly bad appointments. He got ripped off for the mug he is by people buying players from eBay and Youtube. He didn't invest in the club no matter what he claimed and he was in the process of asset striping everything he could value at the club when he lucked out and buyers knocked at the door.

The man was a joke but he's gone - so fvck him.