Al-Fahim To Sell Up

Last updated : 04 October 2009 By Jim Bonner
Sulaiman Al-Fahim is to sell the majority of his shares in Portsmouth Football Club to the Al-Faraj consortium, although he will hold a minority share in the club.

It is expected that Al-Fahim will meet the prospective buyers tomorrow, with a deal being announced early next week which should see Pompey's financial crisis ease considerably.

The only concerns over the deal are Sacha Gaydamak's involvement in Miland, the holding company and Ivo Gabara's radio interview earlier today.

Gaydamak is reported to still have a say in who the club is sold to and given that he got cold feet when the consortium was revealed to contain someone who wanted to sue Sacha's father, there could be some problems there.

It is also rumoured that the Al-Faraj consortium won't buy the club unless Gaydamak gives up his stake in the holding company as it is believed that Miland own part of the land around Fratton Park, although this is just "word off the street" and I can't be certain that this is entirely true.

The other doubt over this deal is that Al-Fahim's spokesman, Ivo Gabara, claimed on the radio earlier that the refinancing deal should be complete within two to three weeks and that he doesn't think SAF would be open to a complete buy-out.

But then this deal wouldn't mean that Al-Fahim is being completely bought out anyway, just that he would hold a minimal share (believed to be 10%) in the club. Al-Fahim also claims that the £50 million he is trying to secure would still be available for use when it (eventually, or if it ever) arrives.

Let's hope that this is true and our financial woes will come to an end, because Al-Fahim faces a serious backlash from the fans if this deal fails to materialise.