A Priority Number

When a football club finds itself struggling to make ends meet and to fund the purchase of the players it needs to succeed, it isn't surprising that critics turn their attention to the other ways that the owner finds to spend his money. Portsmouth FC's new owner Sulaiman Al-Fahim has come in for more than a little flack recently from The Daily Mail for his purchase of the Dubai number plate '93'. The registration, which cost the businessman £1.25 million, apparently cost more than the majority of recent player acquisitions by the club.

Obviously, it is up to Al-Fahim how he spends his money, but with columnists such as Martin Samuel pointing out the "bargain basement" nature of many of the player purchases, it is not surprising that the purchase of a very expensive number plate should make some people question the new owner's priorities.

Mr Al-Fahim was featured in a recent Piers Morgan ITV documentary about Dubai. In the programme, he proudly displayed his Lamborghini Murcielago with the '93' plate which he had bought simply to mark the year of his wife's college graduation. Asked if Dubai was all it is cracked up to be, Al-Fahim wryly replied, "If you like sun and fun, glitz and glamour, the answer is a resounding yes."

Back to News Index