Milan Mandaric’s first involvement in English football was when he took over Portsmouth in May 1999
Milan Mandaric, the former owner of Portsmouth, Leicester City, and Sheffield Wednesday, has died at the age of 87.
Mandaric’s family released a statement confirming his passing in a Belgrade hospital on Saturday, following a brief illness.
The Serbian-American businessman, who first entered English football in 1999 with the acquisition of Portsmouth, most recently held the position of vice-president at Serbian club Vojvodina, based in his hometown of Novi Sad.
“His love for football was only surpassed by that for his family. He will be sadly missed by his two daughters and three grandchildren,” the family statement conveyed.
Mandaric’s ownership of Portsmouth spanned from 1999 to 2006, followed by Leicester from 2007 to 2010, and Sheffield Wednesday from 2010 to 2015.
At the age of 21, Mandaric assumed control of his father’s engineering firm in Novi Sad.
Within five years, the company had become one of Yugoslavia’s largest, leading to conflict with Marshal Tito, the nation’s communist leader.
Tito branded Mandaric a “capitalist traitor” when the entrepreneur relocated his family to Switzerland.
After a year spent attempting to move his assets out of the Balkans, Mandaric moved to the United States, where he established a computer components firm and an electronics business.
He obtained US citizenship and brought George Best to play for the San Jose Earthquakes, the first professional sports team in Silicon Valley.
Citing slow progress in the US game, Mandaric purchased Belgian club Charleroi and later Nice.
His 1999 acquisition of Portsmouth occurred when the club faced imminent bankruptcy, a situation he reversed through his leadership, establishing his reputation as football’s ‘Mr Fixit’.
His ownership approach involved an initial period of adjustment, managerial changes, squad investment, and subsequent improvement, promotion, consolidation, and eventual sale.
Under Mandaric’s ownership and with Harry Redknapp as manager, Portsmouth secured the Championship title in 2003, before he sold the club to Alexandre Gaydamak for £32m in 2006.
In 2007, Mandaric acquired Leicester City for £6m. While the Foxes were relegated to League One in 2007-08, they rebounded as champions in 2008-09 and reached the Championship play-off semi-finals in 2009-10.
He subsequently sold Leicester to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha of Thailand for £40m later that year and purchased the heavily indebted Sheffield Wednesday for £1.
Sheffield Wednesday achieved promotion from League One in 2012 before Mandaric sold the club to another Thai businessman, Dejphon Chansiri, for £37.5m.
Mandaric was also notably involved with Redknapp in a corruption case that began with a BBC Panorama investigation in 2006, ultimately resulting in their acquittal on tax evasion charges in 2012.
Earlier this year, Mandaric considered reacquiring Sheffield Wednesday to prevent the club’s “destruction” under current chairman Chansiri.
However, he ultimately decided against the purchase due to insufficient time to “return the club to the healthy condition I left it in”.
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