MAF Gets Some Credit In 'The Daily Telegraph'

[White Noise]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/jimwhite/7598974/Who-says-you-cant-buy-love.html

Who says you can't buy love?


Football has given Mohamed Fayed the success he always craved, says Jim White .

By Jim White

Published: 6:14PM BST 16 Apr 2010

It is not what you expect of a man who owns the biggest emporium of over-priced tat in the world, a man so ensnared by conspiracy theory that he routinely accuses the Royal family of murder, a man pilloried by Private Eye as a swivel-eyed potty mouth. But right now, it is hard to argue with the contention that Mohamed Fayed – the old fugger himself – is the most popular football club chairman in England.

After 10 years of steady membership of the Premier League, his team, Fulham, play next week in the semi-finals of the Europa League. It is an astonishing achievement, given where the club stood when he bought it.

Fulham had long been the butt of music-hall gags, but back in 1997 – with the club moribund and close to bankrupt – even comedians were struggling to find anything funny.

Fayed changed all that, breezing into the place with showbiz chums such as Michael Jackson and Su Pollard and scattering all sorts of improbable promises in his bubbling wash. He was, he said, intent on making his club the "Manchester United of the South". It was comedy gold.

Joking apart, at the time most observers reckoned he was after the real estate. Fulham's home ground sits right on the Thames, affluence lapping at its turnstiles. Fayed's aim, it was thought, was to turn Craven Cottage's creaking stands into pricey riverside flats. When he failed to gain planning permission for a new stadium in Wandsworth, the assumption was that he would walk away.

But he didn't. He stayed on, sitting in the directors' box with his over-sized team scarf, strolling across the pitch before kick-off, sharing banter with the match-day announcer, "Diddy" David Hamilton. And grinning, always grinning.

The really sharp thing he did, though, the one bit of business that suggests beneath the fuggery lurks the shrewdest of football operators, came three seasons ago. That was when he employed Roy Hodgson.

Over the years, his managerial recruitment policy had encompassed the enthusiastic, in Kevin Keegan, the flashy foreigner, in Jean Tigana, and the young hopeful, in Chris Coleman. Under Laurie Sanchez, who was none of the above, Fulham were absolutely ripe for relegation.

First, the veteran coach (formerly of Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers and Switzerland, among many others) used his nous to save the team – on the last day of the season – from expulsion from the top flight. From there, he transformed the place, buying brilliantly, turning journeymen into stars, forging a team spirit that has overwhelmed some of the swankiest sides in Europe.

Organised, controlled and steady, the bookish Hodgson's ethos is the opposite of the flash of Harrods. Yet Fayed has allowed Hodgson to define the place, in a way so many of the egos in the directors' boxes would find intolerable.

Over the years, Fayed's indulgence at Fulham must have cost him tens of millions. So why do it? I once tried to ask him, but he rarely grants interviews. Instead, he sent his PR man to answer questions. And Max Clifford did just that, conducting a bizarre interview in which he not only spoke for his client, but did so while imitating his accent.

Yet you don't need to speak to Fayed to understand his motivation. Observing him watching a game at the Cottage this season, beaming as his team beat Liverpool, Manchester United and Juventus, it becomes clear what he is really up to. This is the one place where he is not mocked, ridiculed or denied a passport. Here he is admired.

What Fayed has done is prove that in football, you sometimes really can buy love.

[BarneyTravers]

Thanks White Noise

Changed a lot of Fulham peoples lives did MAF.

Fulham for the cup

[Tktd]

We're the luckiest club in England with MAF as our owner - pure ledgend. Wouldn't be anywhere without him and he's treats everyone at the club extremely well and manages it like it should be, he makes sure decisions are made with the right amount of time left, he makes solid investments when he deems fit and he tries to run the club properly.

Top man, Fulham man, and when it comes to Fulham , you really can't say anything bad about him.

[Hazey]

That's hilarious that his PR man did the interview imitating the MAF accent.....a little bizarre but hilarious!

[Lighthouse]

MAF didn't just buy love he showed loyalty when everything that could happen for the worse did happen for him. He didn't make money from the sale of The sale of the Cottage and he lost his Son. But he stuck it out. Not only do we owe everything to him we also owe him the loyalty he gave us.

[FatFreddysCat]

Lawrie Sanchez was none of the above  :011: .

[finnster01]

MAF didn't just buy love he showed loyalty when everything that could happen for the worse did happen for him. He didn't make money from the sale of The sale of the Cottage and he lost his Son. But he stuck it out. Not only do we owe everything to him we also owe him the loyalty he gave us.

Agree wholeheartedly Mr Lighthouse.

However, lets not lose sight of the fact that buying Fulham was a very shrewd investment by him. MAF isn't running a charity by the River. He knows very well what he is doing on the business side

[Oakeshott]

Lighthouse

Quite right, and as often the Telegraph are insufficiently subtle in their analysis.

Putting in money doesn't buy support, let alone love. What earns support and respect is conduct, and MAF's has been exemplary. He's given managers reasonable chances (though LS might disagree), he doesn't seem to be an interferer on footballing managers (unlike some, including one only just up the road), and he plainly enjoys watching the team. Very much in the mould of the late Jack Walker at Blackburn and Doug. Ellis at Villa, and a far cry from the likes of the present owners of Liverpool, Mans. U and City and the succession of iffy types who have owned Portsmouth recently.

[FatFreddysCat]

Lighthouse

Quite right, and as often the Telegraph are insufficiently subtle in their analysis.

Putting in money doesn't buy support, let alone love. What earns support and respect is conduct, and MAF's has been exemplary. He's given managers reasonable chances (though LS might disagree), he doesn't seem to be an interferer on footballing managers (unlike some, including one only just up the road), and he plainly enjoys watching the team. Very much in the mould of the late Jack Walker at Blackburn and Doug. Ellis at Villa, and a far cry from the likes of the present owners of Liverpool, Mans. U and City and the succession of iffy types who have owned Portsmouth recently.

Would that be the Elliss as Deadly Doug Elliss? Hardly known for giving his managers a chance.

[Oakeshott]

Yes, a man who loves the game, turns up every week, put a load of his money into the club and has been instrumental in making Villa the well-established Premiership side, realistically seeking domestic cups and European football, it is today.

[finnster01]

Yes, a man who loves the game, turns up every week, put a load of his money into the club and has been instrumental in making Villa the well-established Premiership side, realistically seeking domestic cups and European football, it is today.

Randy Lerner, the Yank he sold the club to in 2006 also deserves credit. Villa in 2006 and Villa now are two different animals (16th place in 2006) He has invested and stayed out of interfering and filling his own pockets Man U and Liverpool style. He seems to be a very good owner (unless the spats this season reported in the press with Martin O'Neill are true)