The "deal" is said to be brokered by Annamaria Prodan, who is a FIFA-licensed agent, Vice President of FC Cluj (in Romania) and a former model.
She is said to be brokering the deal alongside Claudiu Florică, who has been attempting to buy Dinamo from current owner Ionuţ Negoiţă for several months.
Prodan claims that Florică was involved in the ESI deal to buy Charlton, that the fee was €65million and that she (Prodan) brought the letter from the UAE royal family to Negoiţă.
It is claimed, also, that the letter states the following:
We are pleased to inform you that Abu Dhabi Business Development is interested in acquiring FC Dinamo Bucharest (92.3% of the total shares), in line with our development strategy for the region.
We are aware of the current commercial conditions for taking over the above mentioned package and we are ready to evaluate the fiscal year, as well as to analyze the legal and commercial diligence performed by our representatives. According to our forecast, the required internal approval may take approximately two months. In addition, you must remember that in order to complete the transaction, you will need to obtain the Liga 1 license for the 2020-2021 season and ensure day-to-day operational activities. It is also necessary for Dinamo to remain in Liga 1 next season.
Recently, the Abu Dhabi Business Development group has completed the process of acquiring the Charlton Athletic club, a team in the English secondary league.
Please do not hesitate to contact Mr Florica for information.
Since Claudiu Florică is wrapped up in a money laundering scandal involving Microsoft (although has not been charged or found guilty) he doesn't seem the sort of person that ADBD would choose to have representing them.
Since the "press release" omits some of the most important items you need on a press release, I think it's fake.
Since the "letter" is so badly written, ABDB have no stated investment strategy in Romania (but anyone Googling might see that the airport in Bucharest is being bought by an Abu Dhabi Airport, adding grist to a rumour) and since it would not be the policy to announce publicly their intention to buy (remember, that no-one had a sniff of ESI until the deal with Duchatelet was completed (subject to EFL), I don't believe the letter is real.
Since Annamaria Pordan owns a football club, I don't believe she would be involved in buying another football club in the same country.
Since the story has now been picked up by The Sun, I now really don't believe it.
To be generous, I think the journalist has been taken in a misleading direction by the "evidence" he has gathered. I don't intend to follow him.
We’re less than 1.66666% of his business interests already , surely he wouldn’t want to dilute the immense pleasure and excitement of owning Charlton Athletic Football Club any more
The "deal" is said to be brokered by Annamaria Prodan, who is a FIFA-licensed agent, Vice President of FC Cluj (in Romania) and a former model.
She is said to be brokering the deal alongside Claudiu Florică, who has been attempting to buy Dinamo from current owner Ionuţ Negoiţă for several months.
Prodan claims that Florică was involved in the ESI deal to buy Charlton, that the fee was €65million and that she (Prodan) brought the letter from the UAE royal family to Negoiţă.
It is claimed, also, that the letter states the following:
We are pleased to inform you that Abu Dhabi Business Development is interested in acquiring FC Dinamo Bucharest (92.3% of the total shares), in line with our development strategy for the region.
We are aware of the current commercial conditions for taking over the above mentioned package and we are ready to evaluate the fiscal year, as well as to analyze the legal and commercial diligence performed by our representatives. According to our forecast, the required internal approval may take approximately two months. In addition, you must remember that in order to complete the transaction, you will need to obtain the Liga 1 license for the 2020-2021 season and ensure day-to-day operational activities. It is also necessary for Dinamo to remain in Liga 1 next season.
Recently, the Abu Dhabi Business Development group has completed the process of acquiring the Charlton Athletic club, a team in the English secondary league.
Please do not hesitate to contact Mr Florica for information.
Since Claudiu Florică is wrapped up in a money laundering scandal involving Microsoft (although has not been charged or found guilty) he doesn't seem the sort of person that ADBD would choose to have representing them.
Since the "press release" omits some of the most important items you need on a press release, I think it's fake.
Since the "letter" is so badly written, ABDB have no stated investment strategy in Romania (but anyone Googling might see that the airport in Bucharest is being bought by an Abu Dhabi Airport, adding grist to a rumour) and since it would not be the policy to announce publicly their intention to buy (remember, that no-one had a sniff of ESI until the deal with Duchatelet was completed (subject to EFL), I don't believe the letter is real.
Since Annamaria Pordan owns a football club, I don't believe she would be involved in buying another football club in the same country.
Since the story has now been picked up by The Sun, I now really don't believe it.
To be generous, I think the journalist has been taken in a misleading direction by the "evidence" he has gathered. I don't intend to follow him.
To be fair if we are going to be part of a network it doesnt straight away spell bad news!! - Even the model that Roland put together should have worked quite well and was a sensible plan
The only issue was Roland... the bloke didnt have a clue so his network didnt get anywhere close to achieving the potential it deserved
Hell just look at the Watford / Udinese / Granada one, their owner is a nut job when it comes to Managers but he certainly got Watford into the Premier League using his other clubs
He is certainly a journalist who is followed on Twitter by established sports journos I follow, from several European countries. So he didn't just come out of the woodwork. However I am surprised that you say he has written for the Guardian and the BBC. May I ask where you got that from? I'd expect such a writer to be able to able to identify the basic content of a press release, and to treat as suspicious any such document that doesn't have that basic content. He seems to rely on that woman from Cluj for a lot of his stories. I also have to say (and apologies in advance to any Romanian Addicks we may have) that in the Balkan region, standards of journalism are generally lower, while the audiences naturally love a rumour.
Not discounting it completely, but I still call bullshit with about a 70% confidence rating.
If we could establish that HE Nimer already has significant biz interests in Romania, that might increase the logic. Otherwise, the question is, why Romania and why Dinamo? The national league crowds are pitiful, as is the TV money, while the football biz environment is subject to interference. All this I know from talking with those Rapid Bucharest guys who appeared on here a few weeks back. They (the country) do produce good youngsters, and it would be relatively easy to get Dinamo into Europe. Maybe they are following the Man City model. Or maybe some Romanians are on an internal wind-up which thanks to Twitter leaks out internationally.
Doesn't make any sense at all... Either it is a legitimate press release and ADBD are involved in Charlton, or it is a load of old crap. Being "separate from ADBD" and this bid being legitimate does not come in to the equation
Doesn't make any sense at all... Either it is a legitimate press release and ADBD are involved in Charlton, or it is a load of old crap. Being "separate from ADBD" and this bid being legitimate does not come in to the equation
But ESI can't come up with a statement that says "we are completely separate from ADBD and the bid is not legitimate" wouldn't pass scrutiny. All ESI can say is that they are separate from ADBD: they can't - by definition - make any proclamation as to the veracity of the (non) "press release".
From that, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether ADBD have decided to buy Dinamo Bucharest or not. I don't think they have.
So even if it is true (there are significant doubts that it is) the only connection is that Nimer (our majority shareholder) is involved with ADBD bit does not own any part in it.
Doesn't make any sense at all... Either it is a legitimate press release and ADBD are involved in Charlton, or it is a load of old crap. Being "separate from ADBD" and this bid being legitimate does not come in to the equation
But ESI can't come up with a statement that says "we are completely separate from ADBD and the bid is not legitimate" wouldn't pass scrutiny. All ESI can say is that they are separate from ADBD: they can't - by definition - make any proclamation as to the veracity of the (non) "press release".
From that, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether ADBD have decided to buy Dinamo Bucharest or not. I don't think they have.
So Matts "boss" has just kept it quiet that he was buying anothet club?
Doesn't make any sense at all... Either it is a legitimate press release and ADBD are involved in Charlton, or it is a load of old crap. Being "separate from ADBD" and this bid being legitimate does not come in to the equation
But ESI can't come up with a statement that says "we are completely separate from ADBD and the bid is not legitimate" wouldn't pass scrutiny. All ESI can say is that they are separate from ADBD: they can't - by definition - make any proclamation as to the veracity of the (non) "press release".
From that, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether ADBD have decided to buy Dinamo Bucharest or not. I don't think they have.
So Matts "boss" has just kept it quiet that he was buying anothet club?
That's not what I said and it's not what the post says.
Cawley has said that ESI claim to be completely separate from ADBD. That's all.
They have neither confirmed, nor denied, the rumour that ADBD are looking at Dinamo Bucharest. And, as they are separate from ADBD, they wouldn't be in a position either to confirm or deny it.
Doesn't make any sense at all... Either it is a legitimate press release and ADBD are involved in Charlton, or it is a load of old crap. Being "separate from ADBD" and this bid being legitimate does not come in to the equation
But ESI can't come up with a statement that says "we are completely separate from ADBD and the bid is not legitimate" wouldn't pass scrutiny. All ESI can say is that they are separate from ADBD: they can't - by definition - make any proclamation as to the veracity of the (non) "press release".
From that, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether ADBD have decided to buy Dinamo Bucharest or not. I don't think they have.
So Matts "boss" has just kept it quiet that he was buying anothet club?
That's not what I said and it's not what the post says.
Cawley has said that ESI claim to be completely separate from ADBD. That's all.
They have neither confirmed, nor denied, the rumour that ADBD are looking at Dinamo Bucharest. And, as they are separate from ADBD, they wouldn't be in a position either to confirm or deny it.
Fair play, but
ESI Majority Share-holder- Tahnoon Nimer
ADBD Chairman - Tahnoon Nimer
ESI are in a position to confirm or deny it, if they really wanted to (though it wouldnt be "their" place.
Emanuel Rosu seems to be the 'go to' Romania based journalist for the guardian and BBC. Here's his sportshour article for bbc- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07wc8xs His own Facebook account names BBC and the Guardian among others so i checked out these claims with a simple google of his name and those entities. He's maybe not so 'established' as he'd want to be. Also notable that he works for sport.ro (links above in my earlier post) so is probably the sole source for this story.
Doesn't make any sense at all... Either it is a legitimate press release and ADBD are involved in Charlton, or it is a load of old crap. Being "separate from ADBD" and this bid being legitimate does not come in to the equation
But ESI can't come up with a statement that says "we are completely separate from ADBD and the bid is not legitimate" wouldn't pass scrutiny. All ESI can say is that they are separate from ADBD: they can't - by definition - make any proclamation as to the veracity of the (non) "press release".
From that, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether ADBD have decided to buy Dinamo Bucharest or not. I don't think they have.
So Matts "boss" has just kept it quiet that he was buying anothet club?
That's not what I said and it's not what the post says.
Cawley has said that ESI claim to be completely separate from ADBD. That's all.
They have neither confirmed, nor denied, the rumour that ADBD are looking at Dinamo Bucharest. And, as they are separate from ADBD, they wouldn't be in a position either to confirm or deny it.
Fair play, but
ESI Majority Share-holder- Tahnoon Nimer
ADBD Chairman - Tahnoon Nimer
ESI are in a position to confirm or deny it, if they really wanted to (though it wouldnt be "their" place.
They have confirmed that they are separate from ADBD. And, in doing so, they have taken the correct option of not saying anything else.
If ADBD do go ahead and buy Dinamo Bucharest (spolier: they won't) it still won't have anything to do with ESI until and unless ADBD decides to transfer the ownership of Dinamo Bucharest to ESI. I don't think the board of ESI has sufficient operational knowledge of Romanian football.
Emanuel Rosu seems to be the 'go to' Romania based journalist for the guardian and BBC. Here's his sportshour article for bbc- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07wc8xs His own Facebook account names BBC and the Guardian among others so i checked out these claims with a simple google of his name and those entities. He's maybe not so 'established' as he'd want to be. Also notable that he works for sport.ro (links above in my earlier post) so is probably the sole source for this story.
Thanks for the reply. Looks like he got one article published in the Guardian nearly six years ago.
if he was serious, and aspired even to the standards of Richard Cawley, whose publication is well down the media pyramid, he would have contacted the authors of the press release for more info, and a quote, using the contact details given. Except that he could not do that, because no such details were provided. That would raise the red flag at the SLP, but he blasts it out to the world on Twitter, and sticks to it when challenged and shrugs his shoulders rather than trying to dig further.
after Cawley’s tweet I’m raising my bullshit forecast to 80%.
Tahnoon Al Nasirat (aka Tahnoon Nimer) is director of ESI, he makes his money as Chairman of Abu Dhabi Business Development (The private office of Sheikh Saeed Bin Tahnoon Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan). A
ADBD are potentially looking to purchase another club. They will be the f***ing rich club we hoped to be as the Sheikh will likely be pumping A LOT of money into them, but we're certainly not going to be disadvantaged by their actions.
According to his LinkedIn Rosu is sports editor and content manager for Pro-tv (contracted in?) at sport.ro. Also freelance for the Guardian since 2014. He's had stories published for them in 2014, and 2016 and is named as a panelist for one of their silly best footballer articles in December 2019. He also did this interview for bbc Sussex in 2018- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0695f2y
For what it's worth I think he has moved too quickly, could have checked the story better as you suggest @PragueAddick, but I think there's a credible story here, though not one that should necessarily worry us.
At the moment, this 'potential sale's' apparently, merely a juicy tabloid news item, being punted by Agent Prodan, who indeed has got some serious 'form' on a number of 'fronts', 'round these parts. As with all things out this way, I'll believe it as and when I see it (in the flesh), done and dusted.
seemed really great to have a guy so far away but was so actively invested (in both senses) in charlton - so with him buying others clubs, the specialness of Charlton lessens and lessens , to where we’re like the ‘Duchatelet and not having a favourite child’ quote!
maybe owning more than one club was the ‘strange’ bowyer mentioned
Comments
Dinamo Bucharest the new Standard Liege
The only issue was Roland... the bloke didnt have a clue so his network didnt get anywhere close to achieving the potential it deserved
Hell just look at the Watford / Udinese / Granada one, their owner is a nut job when it comes to Managers but he certainly got Watford into the Premier League using his other clubs
Not discounting it completely, but I still call bullshit with about a 70% confidence rating.
If we could establish that HE Nimer already has significant biz interests in Romania, that might increase the logic. Otherwise, the question is, why Romania and why Dinamo? The national league crowds are pitiful, as is the TV money, while the football biz environment is subject to interference. All this I know from talking with those Rapid Bucharest guys who appeared on here a few weeks back. They (the country) do produce good youngsters, and it would be relatively easy to get Dinamo into Europe. Maybe they are following the Man City model. Or maybe some Romanians are on an internal wind-up which thanks to Twitter leaks out internationally.
From that, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether ADBD have decided to buy Dinamo Bucharest or not. I don't think they have.
Cawley has said that ESI claim to be completely separate from ADBD. That's all.
They have neither confirmed, nor denied, the rumour that ADBD are looking at Dinamo Bucharest. And, as they are separate from ADBD, they wouldn't be in a position either to confirm or deny it.
Emanuel Rosu seems to be the 'go to' Romania based journalist for the guardian and BBC. Here's his sportshour article for bbc-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07wc8xs
His own Facebook account names BBC and the Guardian among others so i checked out these claims with a simple google of his name and those entities. He's maybe not so 'established' as he'd want to be.
Also notable that he works for sport.ro (links above in my earlier post) so is probably the sole source for this story.
If ADBD do go ahead and buy Dinamo Bucharest (spolier: they won't) it still won't have anything to do with ESI until and unless ADBD decides to transfer the ownership of Dinamo Bucharest to ESI. I don't think the board of ESI has sufficient operational knowledge of Romanian football.
if he was serious, and aspired even to the standards of Richard Cawley, whose publication is well down the media pyramid, he would have contacted the authors of the press release for more info, and a quote, using the contact details given. Except that he could not do that, because no such details were provided. That would raise the red flag at the SLP, but he blasts it out to the world on Twitter, and sticks to it when challenged and shrugs his shoulders rather than trying to dig further.
after Cawley’s tweet I’m raising my bullshit forecast to 80%.
ADBD are potentially looking to purchase another club. They will be the f***ing rich club we hoped to be as the Sheikh will likely be pumping A LOT of money into them, but we're certainly not going to be disadvantaged by their actions.
According to his LinkedIn Rosu is sports editor and content manager for Pro-tv (contracted in?) at sport.ro. Also freelance for the Guardian since 2014. He's had stories published for them in 2014, and 2016 and is named as a panelist for one of their silly best footballer articles in December 2019.
He also did this interview for bbc Sussex in 2018-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0695f2y
For what it's worth I think he has moved too quickly, could have checked the story better as you suggest @PragueAddick, but I think there's a credible story here, though not one that should necessarily worry us.
Tahnoon posted 1 min of an interview in Arabic he did the other day to his instagram.
I got someone to translate it this evening:
I don't think its necessarily a bad thing that we will be part of a 'network' but I did think there was more to this Dinamo thing
seemed really great to have a guy so far away but was so actively invested (in both senses) in charlton - so with him buying others clubs, the specialness of Charlton lessens and lessens , to where we’re like the ‘Duchatelet and not having a favourite child’ quote!
maybe owning more than one club was the ‘strange’ bowyer mentioned
“dinamo in rumani”
aka dinamo in Romania