Milan Mandarić

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Milan Mandarić (Serbian: Милан Мандарић) is a Serbian business tycoon who has owned a string of successful businesses and football clubs including Portsmouth F.C. and Leicester City. He was born in Yugoslavia, on September 5, 1938, and grew up in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, Vojvodina.

Contents 1 Business activities 1.1 Yugoslavia and Serbia 1.2 United States of America 2 Football 2.1 United States of America 2.2 Europe 2.3 Portsmouth 2.4 Leicester City 3 References

[edit] Business activities

[edit] Yugoslavia and Serbia

He took control of his father's machine shop aged 21, and by the age of 26 had turned it into the largest business in the country. At the time Yugoslavia was a communist country, but a relatively free one. Private enterprise was encouraged, up to a point. Mandarić, now mass-producing car spares for the whole country and for overseas, became too successful and in the government's eyes went overnight from 'Hero' to 'Capitalist Traitor'.

[edit] United States of America

In 1969, worried by the government's view of his business, he left Serbia and settled in the United States. He had to leave most of his fortune behind, and got a job for an American computer component manufacturer in California. When two of the senior managers left to start their own firm Mandarić was invited to be their third partner. The firm was successful, but disagreements over manufacturing processes led to Mandarić leaving to form his own company, Lika Corporation, in 1971. In 1976, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. By 1976 Lika Corp. was the largest manufacturer of computer components in the USA, and Mandarić was pioneering the boom that led to the creation of California's Silicon Valley. He sold the company to the Tandy Corporation in 1980 and set up a new company, Sanmina, which developed high-tech telecoms products. On 1989 the company acquired SCI Systems, a much larger competitor, merged it with Sanmina-SCI Corporation. Mandarić also began branching out into investment banking operations such as Behrman Capital. He also became owner of the St. Louis Storm, a Major Indoor Soccer League franchise that ceased operations in 1992 when the MSL also folded.

[edit] Football

[edit] United States of America

Around the same time he had begun using his money to invest in football, his passion since childhood (as a young man he had played for Novi Sad). He set up firstly F.C. Lika, then San Jose Earthquakes which played in the USA's first professional league.

[edit] Europe

Sceptical about the future of the sport in the USA, Mandarić looked to European football, owning first Belgian club Standard Liège, then French team OGC Nice.

[edit] Portsmouth

In 1998 he sold Nice and took over English club Portsmouth F.C., to whom he had been introduced by ex-player Preki.

After struggling for a number of years in the English First Division (now called the Championship) Portsmouth won promotion as champions into the Premiership, arguably the richest football division in the world, due in large part to his appointment of the experienced Harry Redknapp as manager, and Redknapp's assistant, Jim Smith. Mandarić appointed Velimir Zajec as executive director, a move that caused tension between Redknapp and Mandarić. Shortly afterwards both Redknapp and Smith resigned from Portsmouth F.C.

Despite Mandarić's patronage the club still plays in its crumbling stadium, while numerous bizarre delays for a planned new stadium and three successive battles against relegation, saw many fans question the club's ambition^{[citation needed]} under Mandarić. In January 2006, Mandarić sold a 50% stake in the club to French-Israeli businessman Alexandre Gaydamak. ^[1] After the club's survival that season, Mandarić sold his remaining half of Portsmouth to Gaydamak, but stayed on as a figurehead in his role as non-executive chairman.

He resigned as chairman of Portsmouth FC on 21 September 2006. Since then, Portsmouth FC have prospered dramatically, finishing higher in the Premier League and winning the 2008 FA Cup.

[edit] Leicester City

On 24 February he made a bid for East Midlands club Leicester City; believed to be in the region of £25m. He had wanted to remain outside of football for a longer period, however he "had to accelerate takeover plans" because of bids for the club by at least two other parties. On November 18, 2006 Leicester accepted his approach to takeover the club at an extraordinary general meeting.^[2]

Despite setting an initial takeover deadline of 15 December, negotiations stalled, reportedly after hidden debts in the club's accounts surfaced during the Due Diligence period. However, both parties dismissed reports that the takeover bid was in danger of collapse, stating that it had merely been delayed. Indeed, on 2 January the Leicester Mercury reported that the deal was in fact close to completion after Mandarić's revised terms were accepted by the club's board.^[3] On 15 January the paper reported that an official announcement confirming the takeover "will probably be on Thursday".^[4]

On 25 January Mandarić put his bid for Leicester on temporary hold after news of his mother's illness back in Serbia. There were wild rumours that suggested he was on the verge of pulling out and, indeed, the delay guaranteed that manager Rob Kelly would not enjoy the benefit of a cash injection before the season's transfer window closed on 31 January. However, Mandarić returned from Serbia to complete the deal the following week.

On, 13 February 2007, Mandarić was officially unveiled as owner of Leicester City. However, that the club were still a PLC meant he did not acquire the title of Chairman for a further 23 days. In April 2007, he sacked manager Kelly and replaced him with Nigel Worthington as caretaker manager for the last five games of the season. At the end of the season, Martin Allen was named the club's new permament manager but Allen left after only three months in charge in August as a result of deteriorating relations with Mandarić.^[5] Gary Megson was then appointed in September, becoming the third manager since Mandarić took over the club. Megson left after only six weeks in charge to take control of Premier League team Bolton Wanderers. Ian Holloway was Mandarić's fourth permament manager, appointed in November 2007. However, Leicester were relegated to League One at the end of the season for the first time in the club's history; many observers attributed this to the large turnover in managers since Mandarić took control of the club.^[6]

Mandarić was arrested on November 28, 2007 over allegations of corruption in football, along with Harry Redknapp, Peter Storrie, Willie McKay and Amdy Faye.^[7]

At the end of the 2007/2008 season, Leicester City were relegated to the Coca Cola League 1. It was the first time that Leicester had been under the Coca Cola Championship

[edit] References