Intelligence operation: this is how Goldhar bought Maccabi

by time news

Maccabi Tel Aviv of 2009 was the farthest from Maccabi Tel Aviv that we know today. Constant leaks, failures that haunted and an audience that lost faith. On the face of it, the decorated club in Israel was at a low ebb, and this despite the fact that in the same season it was supposed to embark on a new path with a Russian Jewish owner, aka Alex Schneider. Years have passed since then and nothing seems the same at Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Mitch Goldhar era.

Championships, winning the state cup, qualifying for the group stage of the champions and countless moments that brought the yellows back to the top. So how did the purchase deal for the Canadian owner close? Uzi Shaya, CEO of the Yellows at the time, and Aviv Bushinsky, the broker of the deal, reveal the behind the scenes.

Like recruiting an agent in the intelligence community
“I come from the intelligence community and my job there was to recruit agents. You can say that the Goldhar deal was an intelligence operation in every respect,” Uzi Shaya began his words, “It started at the end of the 2008 season. No one thought at all that Maccabi Tel Aviv was on the shelf because only A year earlier, Alex Schneider, a very rich man, purchased it. Schneider wanted to stay for the long term and invested a lot of money in Maccabi Tel Aviv, and no one imagined that he would leave so quickly, but the reality was different.”

Shaya explained: “Schneider was completely invested in the steel industry and it collapsed all at once. So it happened that the owner lost hundreds of millions in a period of a year and a half, which caused him to collapse, and so the last thing that bothered him was Maccabi Tel Aviv. Alex turned to me and Aviv Bushinsky and said that we have to find a person to take the team. There were many names we met with, but Mitch Goldhar was the most serious. Our relationship with Goldhar lasted for 8 months, of which 4 months were negotiations, which were kept secret almost until the end, because only Aviv and I knew about it.”

The former CEO recounts how Goldhar walked around Kiryat Shalom for four months in the presence of journalists and even received an honor from the Maccabi Tel Aviv announcer in one of the games, yet no one suspected that he was the person who might purchase the team: “I remember Goldhar came to Bloomfield as a guest and stayed at the stadium. The announcer during the game congratulated him and said over the loudspeakers that “a special guest honored us with his presence”, and no one suspected. Goldhar walked around on the grass, at first as a fan and personal guest of Aviv Bushinski, but everyone thought that Maccabi Tel Aviv was not on the shelf at all because only now Alex Schneider Purchased it, so they didn’t do 1+1 at all. I remember times when Goldhar, then just a guest, sat with Avner Tavito, the manager of the group at the time, and they both drank coffee in Kiryat Shalom. This is a situation that today would have been impossible.”

“In the beginning, Goldhar talked about building a big club that could go far,” Aviv Bushinsky, the broker of the deal, told ‘5 on Air’ earlier this month, “At the beginning, when I tried to convince Goldhar to buy Maccabi Tel Aviv, I told him to take the youth department and that Alex Schneider will own the senior team. Goldhar actually really liked it, he said it might be right for him because then he wouldn’t have to finance a bunch of professional players, but in the end over time things changed.”

That’s how the deal was closed
After four months of getting to know the club, Goldhar began negotiations with Bushinsky and Shaya, which lasted for four months, with most of the meetings taking place in Toronto, Canada.

“There were moments when I did not believe that the negotiations would lead to a deal because Goldhar was a person who had no financial investment outside of Canada. He is a rational and not sentimental person, so the opening figures were not easy,” Shaya repeated, “He came with a report ready for the meetings in Canada, When later the person who coordinated this whole issue was Aviv Bushinsky.”

What were the obstacles that arose during the meetings?
“Goldhar explained that he was going to dedicate himself to the matter, and if not, then he would not buy the team. Mitch said that one of the problems was that he was a university lecturer, so he had to stay in Israel. The same way he talks today about cultural and organizational change, that’s how he spoke then. Goldhar had A real fear that he would not have the time to be present here, and that is what cast doubt on the existence of the deal.”

So how do you convince him to go for it anyway?
“It is important to note, it was clear to Goldhar from the first moment that he would not make money at Maccabi Tel Aviv, the economic element is not a factor at all. Therefore, just as an agent is recruited in intelligence, who acts contrary to his values ​​or the things he believes in, so we tried to understand what motivates Goldhar. Mitch was a very successful businessman even then, but it was important for his legacy that he would be able to leave his mark on something that would make people remember him in Israel and the Jewish world.”

“He wanted to make a real change, to take a failing brand and turn it into one that has a global standard. What he talked about and we repeated throughout the whole process was the theme of the challenge. We told him in advance that he wouldn’t make money here, but that didn’t interest him. He saw the community in the games he reached and wanted to be a part of it. Goldhar wanted to be identified with the success of the brand and make a mark. If Goldhar walked down the street in Canada, no one would recognize him, now in the Jewish community he is a name, one who knows him and identifies him with success, and that Exactly what he wanted.”

“If not for Alex Schneider, there would be no Mitch Goldhar”
Many have indeed managed to forget, but a year and a half before Goldhar, it was Alex Schneider who purchased Maccabi Tel Aviv from Lonnie Hertsikovich. Although the Yellows did not achieve significant achievements in this short period, but according to Shaya, the recovery time under Schneider was the one that made the Purchase of Goldhar.

“Maccabi Tel Aviv was in a very bad situation, one could say on the verge of bankruptcy. Maccabi took loans, just like Hapoel Tel Aviv, and then Alex Schneider arrived,” Shaya recalls, “Schneider wiped out a debt of 60 million NIS, he healed Maccabi Tel Aviv. He would have stayed in Israel for many years if he hadn’t crashed Financially. I have no doubt that Goldhar would not have purchased Maccabi Tel Aviv in the state it was in.”

Shaya continued: “You have to understand, Schneider invested 100 million NIS in a year and a half, rebuilt the youth department, signed Dor Micah, Manas Davor and Sharan Yeni. Goldhar didn’t pay a transfer fee, he just got the team for free. Therefore, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans should know that Schneider has a significant part in this.”

The article was first published on 05.27.19

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