Milan Mandarić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Мандарић; born 5 September 1938) is a Serbian-American businessman who has owned a string of businesses and
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
clubs, including
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
,
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
and
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
. He was born near
Gospić
Gospić () is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj County. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field ( Ličko Polje).
Gospić is the ...
,
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...
(today Croatia), and grew up in
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
, Serbia.
Business activities
Yugoslavia and Serbia
Mandarić took control of his father's machine shop aged 21, and by the age of 26 had turned it into one of the largest businesses in the country.
His homeland of Yugoslavia was a socialist country where successful business owners and affluent people in general were considered to represent a political threat to the ruling communist party regime, which is why he and his family left the country.
United States
In 1969, worried by the Yugoslav government's view of his business, Mandarić left Yugoslavia 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
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. 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
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
of the U.S. By 1976, Lika Corp. was the largest manufacturer of computer components in the U.S., and Mandarić was pioneering the boom that led to the creation of California's
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
. He sold the company to the
Tandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, ...
in 1980 and set up a new company,
Sanmina
Sanmina Corporation is an American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in San Jose, California that serves original equipment manufacturers in communications and computer hardware fields. The firm has nearly 80 manufa ...
, which manufactured
printed circuit boards
A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a laminated sandwich struct ...
. In 2001, the company acquired SCI Systems, a much larger competitor, becoming
Sanmina-SCI Corporation
Sanmina Corporation is an American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in San Jose, California that serves original equipment manufacturers in communications and computer hardware fields. The firm has nearly 80 manufa ...
. 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 which ceased operations in 1992 when the MISL also folded. He was ranked 1,049 in the times top 2,000 rich list, worth
£75 million.
On 23 December 2009, Mandarić was charged with two counts of
tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
by the
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...
, however he was found not guilty on 8 February 2012.
[
]
Football
United States
Around the same time he had begun using his money to invest in football, Mandarić's passion since childhood (as a young man he had played for Novi Sad). He set up firstly F.C. Lika, then San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...
which played in the United States' first professional league. In 1978, he purchased a North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to:
*North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league
*North American Soccer League (2011–2017)
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
franchise called the Connecticut Bicentennials
The Connecticut Bicentennials were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1975 to 1977. Originally founded as the Hartford Bicentennials, the team relocated to New Haven, Connecticut after the 1 ...
and moved them to Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, California, to play as the Stompers. After one year in the East Bay, the team was moved to Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
, Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, to become the Drillers.[
]
Europe
Sceptical about the future of the sport in the U.S., Mandarić looked to European football, initially taking a stake in Belgian team Standard Liège
Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège.
They are one of the most ...
before taking outright ownership of Belgian club R. Charleroi S.C.
Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League and their current spell at ...
, then French side OGC Nice
Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...
. Under his ownership the latter club won the 1996–97 Coupe de France
The Coupe de France 1996–97 was its 80th edition. It was won by OGC Nice which defeated En Avant Guingamp in the Final.
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
----
Final
Topscorer
Ibrahima Bakayoko (3 goals)
Thierry De Neef (3 ...
but they were also relegated from the French top division.[
]
Portsmouth
In 1998, Mandarić sold Nice and took over English club Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
in May 1999, to whom he had been introduced by ex-player Preki
Predrag Radosavljević ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Радосављевић; born June 24, 1963), better known by the nickname Preki (), is a Serbian-American former soccer player and coach. He is currently an assistant coach with Seattle Sounde ...
.
After struggling for a number of years in the second tier of English football (now the EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
), Portsmouth won promotion as champions to the Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, arguably the richest football division in the world. This was due in large part to Mandarić's appointment of the experienced manager Harry Redknapp
Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...
. Mandarić appointed Velimir Zajec
Velimir Zajec (born 12 February 1956) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who last managed Dinamo Zagreb.
Club career
Zajec began his career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1974, aged 18. During 10 years at the club, he helped them ...
as executive director, a move which caused tension between Redknapp and Mandarić. Shortly afterwards, Redknapp resigned from Portsmouth.
In January 2006, Mandarić sold a 50% stake in the club to French-Israeli businessman Alexandre Gaydamak
Alexandre "Sacha" Gaydamak ( he, אלכסנדר גאידמק, born May 1976 in France) is a French and Israeli businessman. A member of the wealthy Gaydamak family, he is the only son of Arcadi Gaydamak.
In January 2006 he announced that he was ...
. After the club's survival that season, Mandarić sold his remaining share of Portsmouth to Gaydamak, but stayed on as a figurehead in his role as non-executive chairman.
Mandarić resigned as chairman of Portsmouth on 21 September 2006. Since then, Portsmouth appeared to prosper, with successive top-ten Premier League finishes and an FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
win in 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. The club, however, was relegated in 2010 and have since dropped dramatically, suffering the ignominy of successive relegation in 2011–12 and 2012–13, ending in the fourth tier of English football, League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
.
Portsmouth City Council
Portsmouth City Council is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government s ...
conferred the Freedom of the City
The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
of Portsmouth on Mandarić in 2003.
Leicester City
On 24 February, Mandarić made a bid for East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
club Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
, believed to be in the region of £25 million. 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 18 November 2006, Leicester City accepted his approach to take over the club at an extraordinary general meeting
An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wou ...
.
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
Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care.
It can be a l ...
period. Both parties, however, 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
The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...
'' reported that the deal was in fact close to completion after Mandarić's revised terms were accepted by the club's board.
On 15 January, the paper reported that an official announcement confirming the takeover "will probably be on Thursday".
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
Robert Anthony Kelly (born 21 December 1964) is a former English footballer and manager who is currently the assistant manager at Wigan Athletic in the Championship.
He is best known for his spell as manager of Leicester City, as well as being ...
would not enjoy the benefit of a cash injection before the season's transfer window closed on 31 January. Mandarić, however, 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 public limited company
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company ...
(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
Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City.
He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County, ...
as caretaker manager for the last five games of the season. At the end of the season, Martin Allen
Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and ...
was named the club's new permanent manager but Allen left after only three months in charge in August as a result of deteriorating relations with Mandarić. Gary Megson
Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager.
He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers ...
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
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
. Ian Holloway
Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town.
A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...
was Mandarić's fourth permanent manager, appointed in November 2007. Leicester, however, was relegated to League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
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.
Mandarić was arrested on 28 November 2007 over allegations of corruption in football, along with Harry Redknapp, Peter Storrie
Peter Storrie (born 7 November 1952) is the Executive Vice-Chairman of A-League club Central Coast Mariners. He was also a former director and Chief Executive Officer of English team Portsmouth, and had formerly worked for West Ham United, Southen ...
, Willie McKay
Willie McKay is a British football agent, based in Monaco. He was the agent of many top-level footballers, mainly based in England and France, specifically the Premier League His clients include James McFadden, Joey Barton
Joseph Anthon ...
and Amdy Faye
Amdy Moustapha Faye (born 12 March 1977) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder and could also play as a centre back.
Faye began his career with Monégasque club AS Monaco, French clubs ES Fréjus a ...
. but was later released without charge.
After tumultuous times, however, things started to look up for Mandarić as Leicester were crowned champions of League One on 18 April 2009 under the stewardship of Nigel Pearson
Nigel Graham Pearson (born 21 August 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, currently the manager of Championship club Bristol City. During his playing career, he was a defender and played for Shrewsbury Town, Shef ...
. The Foxes came close to achieving a second successive promotion the following season (something not achieved by any club at this level for a decade) as they finished fifth in the Championship but lost to Cardiff City in the playoff semi-finals.
During the close season, it was reported that Mandarić had agreed to sell Leicester City to a consortium of Thai businessmen, but these reports were swiftly denied by club officials. Just weeks later, however, he sold the club for a reported £40 million to Vichai Raksriaksorn and his son Aiyawatt. It later emerged that Mandarić was a shareholder in the consortium and he was re-appointed chairman.
Sheffield Wednesday
On 29 November 2010, Mandarić agreed to purchase Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
. The purchase was completed after an extraordinary general meeting of Sheffield Wednesday shareholders on 14 December 2010, during which 99.7% of shareholders voted to sell the company to Mandarić's UK Football Investments for £1. Mandarić had agreed to settle the club's outstanding debts as part of the largely confidential deal. He negotiated settlements with a number of the club's creditors, including an agreement to pay the Co-operative Bank
The Co-operative Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom, with its headquarters in Balloon Street, Manchester.
The Co-operative Bank is the only UK high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy which is incorporat ...
£7m of the £23m owed to them, and a deal to pay £1.5m of the £2.4m owed to five of the club's directors. Mandarić also stepped down as chairman of Leicester City, due to Football League rules preventing him from being the chairman of two different clubs. During his time as owner Wednesday secured promotion from League One to the Championship in 2012. In 2014 Mandarić agreed to sell the club to Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov
Hafiz Mammadov ( az, Hafiz Məmmədov, script=Latn, italic=no; born 2 December 1964 in Nakhchivan, in Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani businessman who founded and owns the Baghlan Group. He used to own football clubs FC Baku and RC Lens.
Biograph ...
, however this fell through, and in January 2015 Mandarić struck a deal to sell the club to Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri for £37.5m, a sum which included money to clear the club's debts.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandaric, Milan
1938 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Novi Sad
People from Gospić
Serbs of Croatia
Yugoslav emigrants to the United States
Portsmouth F.C. directors and chairmen
Leicester City F.C. directors and chairmen
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives