Sam Hammam is a Lebanese businessman, most notable for his high profile ownership of British football clubs. He has achieved a level of notoriety in English football for his unusual antics at matches, frequently walking around the pitchside during games, and his eccentric methods of publicising himself and his players. Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Having trained as civil engineer, Hammam made his fortune as a building contractor in the Middle East. After emigrating to Britain in 1975, Hammam bought a majority stake in his local football team, Wimbledon F.C., becoming Chairman of the club. The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Wimbledon F.C. crest Wimbledon F.C. was the name of a now defunct football club that played in south London. ...

Wimbledon FC

Hammam was in charge of the unfashionable South London club during its meteoric and record-breaking rise through the football league to the top flight and the infamous 1988 FA cup victory. The 1988 FA Cup Final took place on 14 May, 1988 at Wembley Stadium. ...

While the club's on-the-field success during Hammam's tenure as Chairman was undeniable, the situation off the pitch however was more colourful. Typically, merely hours after the club's FA Cup final victory, Hammam anounced that the entire first team was up for sale! Hammam fostered the "Crazy Gang" image at the club, encouraging bizare 'rewards' and initiation ceremonies for new players - Hammam pledged to buy leading striker Dean Holdsworth a camel should he score 20 goals in a season, while at his first day at the club record signing John Hartson had his kit set on fire by his new team mates! Unfortunately however these eccentricities were not the extent of Hammam's controversial chairmanship, which led to him being dubbed "Sam the Sham" by Wimbledon supporters. The Crazy Gang is a nickname coined by the UK media to describe the Wimbledon football team of the 1980s. ... Dean Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968 in Walthamstow, London) is an English professional football player who currently plays as a striker for Derby County Holdsworth started his career at Watford, however was unable to break into the first team despite being loaned several times. ... John Hartson (born 5 April 1975, in Swansea, Wales) is a professional footballer, currently playing for West Bromwich Albion. ...

Hammam had arranged for ownership of the club's Plough Lane home ground to be held by a private company, of which Hammam himself was a director. After Wimbledon were forced to move out of their ground and groundshare at Selhurst Park with local rivals Crystal Palace in 1992, Hammam opened discussions with the Council to lift a covenant on the site, requiring it to be retained for sporting use. Once this was removed, Hammam went on to sell the site to supermarket giants, Safeway, for a substantial profit, leaving the club without a home ground. Plough Lane was a football stadium in the Wimbledon area of south London. ... Selhurst Park is a football stadium in south London, and is the current home ground of Crystal Palace F.C. Its present capacity is 26, 247. ... Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football team based in South Norwood in south-east London and playing in the Coca-Cola Football League Championship, the second level of English football. ... The London Borough of Merton is a London borough in south west London. ...

Hammam was subsequently unsuccessful with his initial proposals for the club to relocate to, among other places, Dublin, Cardiff and Milton Keynes and eventually sold his stake in the homeless club to two Norwegian businessmen for a substantial fortune, reported at around £25 million. However it was his sale of the club's home ground which gave subsequent owners, Charles Koppel and Pete Winkleman, the opportunity to buy a football club for franchising to Milton Keynes.

Cardiff City FC

Having sold his interests in Wimbledon, Hammam purchased control of Cardiff City at the end of 2000, where he quickly picked up where he left off with Wimbledon. Shortly after taking over at Cardiff, Hammam controversially pledged to get the entire Welsh nation to support Cardiff by renaming the club The Cardiff Celts and changing the club colours to green, red and white.^[1]. Whilst, as at Wimbledon, rumours persist that as part of the initiation ceremony for new players at the club are required to eat sheep's testicles^[2]. Cardiff City Association Football Club is a football team based in Cardiff. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Trivia

• Hammam is a signed-up member of Wimbledons Crazy Gang
• Threatened poorly performing players with trips to the opera
• In 1994 he was caught scrawling abusive graffiti in the away dressing room at Upton Park
• When signing Robbie Earle from Port Vale, he locked the midfielder in his study until he signed.
• At Cardiff City he became a cult hero with fans for taking part in their head-patting 'do the Ayatollah' chant.
• Once quoted saying "We have to remain the English bulldog SAS club. We have to sustain ourselves by power and the attitute that we kick ass. Before we go down we'll leave a trail of blood from here to Timbuktu. As owner of Wimbledon, march 1999

The Crazy Gang is a nickname coined by the UK media to describe the Wimbledon football team of the 1980s. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan is one of the worlds most famous opera houses. ... Upton Park is the name of an area in the London Borough of Newham. ... Robert Fitzgerald Robbie Earle MBE (born 27 January 1965 in Newcastle-under-Lyme) is a former professional footballer who played approximately 600 games in senior club football, scoring around 150 goals. ... Nickname Valiants Ground Vale Park Manager Martin Foyle Chairman Bill Bratt Colours Home: White shirts, black shorts, white stockings, Away: All yellow, Third Kit: Two-tone blue, Best attendance 49768: vs Aston Villa 20 February 1960 FA Cup R5 Best league win 9 - 1: vs Chesterfield 24 September 1932 Division... Look up Study on Wiktionary, the free dictionary To study means to acquire knowledge, often by memorization or reading. ... Cardiff City Football Club is a football team based in Cardiff. ... It has been suggested that cult debate be merged into this article or section. ... Ayatollah (Arabic: آية الله; Persian: آيت‌الله) is a high rank given to major Shia clerics. ... Timbuktu, Timbuctu or Timbuctoo (Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu, French: Tombouctou) is a city populated by the Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Moorish people in the West African country of Mali. ... Wimbledon may refer to: Wimbledon, London, a town in south-west London A constituency based around it, Wimbledon (UK Parliament constituency) Wimbledon station, a train station The Championships, Wimbledon, one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments Wimbledon (film), a movie based on the tennis championships Wimbledon F.C., a...

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