Soccer Focus on Portsmouth: It was the bruising St Stephen's Day encounter at Fratton Park that convinced the 30-year-old Alexandre Gaydamak he wanted to buy half of Portsmouth football club. It was a typically hard-fought 1-1 draw, with Harry Redknapp's 10-man team clinging on after Laurent Robert's red card six minutes from the end.
But the 30-year-old son of the Russian billionaire businessman Arkady Gaydamak - who had been considering buying a stake in Aston Villa - had fallen in love with Pompey's supporters, according to the Israeli football agent Pini Zahavi, who played a key role in striking the deal.
Gaydamak senior (53), who has revolutionised the fortunes of Israel's football through his takeover of Beitar Jerusalem, is insisting it was all down to his son, Sacha.
However, Israeli police grilled the elder Gaydamak yesterday in connection with an international money-laundering probe, prompting him to briefly threaten to stop funding charities and sports clubs. After being summoned by police investigators, Gaydamak issued a statement saying he was suspending all charitable contributions "until a final and clear decision is made by the national authorities about the sources of his money".
But he reversed his decision after emerging from seven hours of questioning, saying he had been misled by a false Israeli media report that police had advised a major Jewish charity linked to the government not to accept a $50 million donation from him. "It was not a misunderstanding, it was a premeditation by my business rivals," Gaydamak told reporters.
A police spokesman said Gaydamak was questioned in connection with suspected money laundering at Bank Hapoalim POLI.TA, Israel's largest bank.
His son Alexandre, one of three children, has lived in England for a long time, working in banking and real estate. By comparison with his father, relatively little is known about him, a French national, although he plans to hold a press conference in the next few days.
Arkady Gaydamak is also the subject of an international arrest warrant in France, but his son has an unblemished business reputation. That will be good news for Portsmouth, who will have been reading the small print of the FA Premier League's handbook, which details the "fit and proper person" rules, designed to prevent those involved in illegal activity, including theft, fraud and corruption, from involvement in football. Any director has to sign the director's declaration, which must be ratified by the league's general secretary.
Though virtually unknown in Israel until six months ago, Arkady Gaydamak's ownership of Beitar Jerusalem shot him to prominence, and on New Year's Eve he hosted a party in Jaffa for 1,500 members of the country's sporting, media and entertainment elite, a gathering that put him at the heart of the Israeli establishment.
He is a permanent resident of Israel, where he has a house in Caesaria, a seaside town between Haifa and Tel Aviv, but he also spends time in Moscow and holds French, Israeli and Canadian nationalities.
Arkady Gaydamak's international arrest warrant was issued by Paris police in 2000. He is being sought by an investigating magistrate probing the illicit sale, allegedly with tacit French government approval, of Russian arms worth £450 million to the Angolan government in the 1990s.
The eldest son of the late President Francois Mitterrand, Jean-Francois, was recently given a suspended prison sentence in relation to the scandal.
Three intelligence agencies compiled reports on him, offering vastly differing conclusions. The French DST said he had "succeeded in profiting remarkably from the opportunities offered by the collapse of the USSR". Maariv business paper reported last year he was Israel's second richest man.
Shaul Adar, a London-based Israeli journalist, said: "At Beitar he seeks the adoration from the fans on the pitch . . . He toured Jerusalem in an open car with the mayor when he bought the club and went to the local market to shake hands of diehard fans. His ego is way too big for Israeli football. He craves respectability."
His arrival has turned Israeli football upside down, raising Beitar's budget from $5 million to $30 million. Eitan Markovitz, sports editor of Ha'aretz, said: "His involvement has attracted other foreign buyers who are spending more money here. Lev Leviev, another Russian businessman, has just bought Hapoel Tel Aviv."
Many believe it is inconceivable Gaydamak did not influence his son's decision to get involved with Portsmouth, but his spokesman insisted: "He is mad about football and gave his son the love of the game."
Meanwhile, Portsmouth manager Redknapp sealed his first deal of the January transfer window yesterday by signing Poland striker Emmanuel Olisadebe from Panathinaikos until the end of the season. The Nigerian-born forward is moving to Fratton Park from the Greek club after a two-day trial last month.
Robert completed his moved to Portuguese giants Benfica. Portsmouth agreed to cancel Robert's season-long loan from Newcastle, leaving the player free to sign a three-and-a-half-year contract with Benfica.
