It was a tug-of-love, and Leicester City won. In the fifth part of our series, Milan Mandaric tells Lee Marlow why he chose us over Italy
In early 2007, about mid-way through the protracted takeover talks with Leicester City, Milan Mandaric took a phone call from Italy. In fact, he received two - one from the chief executive of Serie A side, Parma FC, the othfrom the chairman of AS Livorno. Both invited Milan to Italy to see their clubs.
Parma, based in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, have a proud history of success in Europe - but at the start of 2007, they were up for sale to the highest bidder.
Tuscany team Livorno - a smaller club, but with Euro-pean ambitions of their own - called Milan when they heard he might have some spare cash after selling his shares in Portsmouth.
It was, admits Milan, a confusing time.
He says: "I did go to Parma and I was impressed. It was at a time when I felt that things were taking too long at Leicester.
"I felt low. I was worn out. I thought people were dragging their feet. I was being told the fans would not like it if a 'foreigner' like me took over their club."
How close he came to scrapping negotiations here and walking away from Filbert Way, he won't say. At this stage of the conversation - wary, perhaps, he might have said too much - he cuts the debate short.
"I don't know," he says. "I look at the Italian league - and there was a bit of interest from Hertha Berlin, too, in the Bundesliga - but I look at those clubs and it makes me think how much I like English football.
"My desire is here," he says. "I like it here. The fans have been good to me. I can see Leicester's potential. I can see us playing in the Premiership. That's where we belong."
Milan has been involved with many football clubs since he first established the works' team, Lika FC, in California's Silicon Valley in 1972.
How much has he spent?
"I don't know," he says. "I look back at all the clubs I've been involved with - and in all, I've lost money, no doubt - but I don't have any regrets." Journalists have written thousands of words about those clubs. But here, for the first time, is what the man himself says.
