'Portsmouth gave me my favourite season during 50 years in football': Ex-Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday and Standard Liege owner Milan Mandaric on his treasured year

Yet Milan Mandaric pinpoints his favourite season without hesitation – 2002-03.

That was the year when Harry Redknapp’s side reached the Premier League after amassing 98 points and 97 goals to claim the First Division title.

Skippered by the majestic Paul Merson, the memorable team also boasted 26-goal Svetoslav Todorov, Linvoy Primus, Arjan de Zeeuw, Matt Taylor, Steve Stone and Shaka Hislop.

Mandaric would spend seven years at Fratton Park before leaving in September 2006, having sold the club to Sacha Gaydamak, a decision he regrets.

Yet that campaign ranks far above anything he experienced with the likes of Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, San Jose Earthquakes, Olimpija Ljubljana, Standard Liege, Nice or Charleroi.

‘That promotion season with Pompey was my favourite season in football, a great time, unbelievable memories,’ the 84-year-old told The News.

‘I had a lot of seasons at other clubs, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday, Olimpija, Standard Liege, Charleroi, a lot of clubs. At Nice we won the Coupe de France, which is a big thing in France.

‘But winning the league with Pompey was the best of them all. That season changed people’s lives.

‘I recently had dinner with Peter Storrie and we talked about those days. He reminded me that when he arrived as chief executive from West Ham, he had told me “We’re going to the Premier League next year”. He was right!

‘That was our year, we were going to give it a go. We were trying to sign Paul Merson and he was a little iffy about the move, so I told him that, if we were promoted, I’d give him £250,000 – and he said “I’ll take it”.

‘When we got promoted he said “Mr Chairman, we did it, didn’t we”. I said “Okay, come to the office tomorrow and I will give that money to you”.

‘I love quality players and Merson was a creator, when he had the ball you knew something would happen there and then, something good. He would create some danger for the opposition.

‘We had an open bus to celebrate winning the league and my grandson was with me, his name is also Milan.

‘People were singing “There’s only one Milan” and he started to cry. He told me “Why are they saying there’s only one Milan? I’m Milan too!”. He’s 25 now and working in finance in New York. We still laugh about that day.’

In October 2021, Mandaric sold Olimpija Ljubljana for five million Euros.

During his six years with the Slovenian club, they won the Prva Liga twice, the first time in 2016 ended a 21-year wait, while also finished as runners-up and captured the national cup three times.

Mandaric also got through 13 managers, some of them employed twice, yet had been looking to sell the club on before finding a buyer 14 months ago.

He added: ‘I don't own a club any more, I sold it.

‘I was invited to be president of the Serbia Federation, but turned it down because of the many projects I have in Slovenia.

‘My head is full of thinking about that and trying to resolve that, so it wasn’t fair that I took the job. My mind wasn’t there.’