Actually, don't do that, this is a family website. But when Mandaric tells me his "mission was never to make money, it was because I loved the game" he can tell from the look on my face that he is going to need to qualify that. You can't buy that with money. True, a cynic might say, but respect does not buy homes in Belgrade, California, Monaco and Slovenia.
But again, Mandaric deserves credit. Anybody who pours millions into businesses already millions in debt, and then manages to sell them on for more millions, deserves a return. And there are easier ways to make a million for a man like him. That story starts when Mandaric took control of his father's engineering business in the Serbian city of Novi Sad at the age of Five years later it was one of the largest firms in Yugoslavia and on a collision course with Marshal Tito, the authoritarian leader of socialist Yugoslavia, who denounced Mandaric as a "capitalist traitor" when the entrepreneur took his family to Switzerland.
He spent a year there, desperately trying to get his cash out of the Balkans, before arriving in Chicago for a family wedding. That visit was enough to tell him he did not like the Windy City but a relative suggested he try California.
It was What followed over the next decade or so would be far-fetched in a soap opera, but he really did start a computer-components firm that was bought by one of the largest companies in America, co-found another even bigger electronics business, become a US citizen and sign George Best to play for the first professional sports team in Silicon Valley, the San Jose Earthquakes.
The Best experiment came in the midst of his attempt to break soccer in America. A frustrated centre-forward, Mandaric founded the Earthquakes, moved another club from Connecticut to California, tried to kick-start an indoor league and got involved in the sport's national federation. Here, you guys played football when you were younger, so you understand what good football is. Tired of waiting for his adopted countrymen to catch on, Mandaric took his ball back to Europe, buying Belgium's Charleroi and then moving on to Nice.
The Eaglets won the French Cup in but managed to get relegated from Ligue 1, too, which is perhaps why he did not laugh when his former St Louis Storm star, and fellow Serb, Preki told him about a club called Pompey that was ripe for a makeover. The deal went through in with Portsmouth on the brink of bankruptcy and so began a pattern that would be repeated over the next 16 years. Published: 6 May Milan Mandaric 'shocked' by reports linking him with bid for Rangers.
The Sheffield Wednesday chairman, Milan Mandaric, said he is shocked and disappointed by reports that he is interested in buying Rangers.
Published: 17 Feb Milan Mandaric: My friend Harry Redknapp is an exceptional manager. The Sheffield Wednesday chairman feels sure his one-time employee has the qualities to succeed with England. Published: 9 Feb Milan Mandaric: 'I would be lying if I said it isn't hurting me'. The police had an agenda to get into corruption in football and this wasn't anything near to that, Milan Mandaric tells David Conn.
Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric cleared of tax evasion — video. Published: 8 Feb Milan Mandaric profile: a rags-to-riches story that began in former Yugoslavia.
Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric cleared of tax evasion. Harry Redknapp jury retires to consider verdict on fraud allegations. He became owner at Leicester City the following February.
In November Mandaric was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting concerning his time at Portsmouth, but released without charge. Mandaric spent a little more than three and a half years at the Walker stadium before selling to a Thai consortium in August He quickly acquired his third English club, Sheffield Wednesday, saving them from the threat of administration.
This article is more than 9 years old. Businessman who fell foul of Marshal Tito made a fortune in the US before buying and selling football clubs. Milan Mandaric, the former owner of Portsmouth FC, told the jury at Southwark crown court of his rags-to-riches story. Reuse this content.
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