Entrepreneur relieved of duties at company he started

Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim - the man who was once thought to own Manchester City even though he apparently has nothing to do with them - is facing a spot of bother in the United Arab Emirates.

The man who is expected to take the reins at Portsmouth in a £60m deal has been relieved of his position of CEO of Hydra Properties, one of Abu Dhabi’s leading property developers.

Al-Fahim - pictured above with an old lady and her grandson - has been “promoted” (read: “demoted”) to as directorial position at Hydra, as one of the firm’s biggest projects is on the brink of collapse. The Hydra Village, a project consisting of 2,500 luxury villas, was due to be completed this year, but it is currently two years behind schedule. Understandably, some investors are concerned, including this one who spoke to The Sun:

“The Hydra Village project has been a disaster and I genuinely fear I will never see my money again.

“I would treat anything Al-Fahim says with a great deal of suspicion.”

It doesn’t appear that this messy situation or his links to Manchester City will jeopardise his eligibility for club ownership, but it doesn’t reflect particularly well on Sir David Richards, the Premier League chairman who has given Al-Fahim his endorsement.

Spoiler bonus: Sulaiman Al-Fahim is the UAE’s answer to Alan Sugar, it seems…

Owner’s Sheikh brother in torture video probe

The handsome son of a gun above is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Arab businessman is currently on the wrong end of an American lawsuit, filed by a former advisor who claims he was tortured. The basis of said lawsuit is a video, depicting Sheikh Issa torturing an Afghan merchant accused of cheating him.

In the video - a small portion of which you can see here - Sheikh Issa and his henchmen hit the Afghan with a plank, pour salt into his wounds, stick a cattle prod where the sun don’t shine, set fire to his genitals with lighter fluid and run him over with a Mercedes SUV.

At one point in the video - which was filmed in 2005 - Sheikh Issa says: “Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show.”

The UAE Ministry of the Interior have confirmed it was Sheikh Issa in the

Kerrrazy billionaire to be sidelined in takeover deal

Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim - the perma-grinning Arab executive who stars in the UAE’s version of The Apprentice - is set to take a backseat in the Manchester City negotiations once due diligence is completed next Monday. From then on, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his trillion dollar family wealth will take charge:

Sheikh Mansour bin Zahed [sic] Al Nahyan, the son of the founding president of the United Arab Emirates and a senior member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, is the real power behind City’s new owners and he is planning to take an increasingly high-profile role once Ramadan finishes later this month.

It is said that the Sheikh could take a more ‘measured approach’ to running things at Eastlands, so Al-Fahim’s dream of seeing every attacking player under the sun in a sky blue shirt may never materialise.

Spoiler FYI: Political asylum seeker Dr Thaksin Shinawatra received his doctorate in criminal justice. Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim’s PhD is nowhere near as ironic - his qualification is in Real Estate investment.