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Discovering Southampton’s newest millionaire proprietor in Dragan’s den
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Shaun Walker in Milan
In a rare interview, Dragan Šolak talks about his concerns about Serbia’s media, his aspirations for Saints to finish in the top 10, and losing out on Premier League rights.
Walker Shaun
Thu, Jan 27, 2022, 21:01 GMT Share
After Southampton and Manchester City drew 1-1 at St Mary’s two days ago, Dragan Šolak,
the club’s new majority owner, seemed to be very happy with his acquisition. Šolak,
clearly thrilled with the memory of seeing his new squad snap City’s 12-game winning run,
describes it as “an absolutely supreme performance playing against probably the best team in the world.”
Serbian-born and headquartered
Šolak avoided the spotlight and seldom ever gave interviews prior to the Southampton acquisition.
He states in a loud, clear English, “I really like being a private person, and hopefully I’ll go back to that soon,”
with passionate hand movements to go along with it.
The primary source of Šolak’s estimated £1.4 billion wealth is his 33% ownership in United Group,
a Netherlands-based business he founded from the ground up and which manages media assets throughout the Balkans.
While he was happy to respond to inquiries about Southampton, his true interest was discussing the political climate in his native Serbia,
where Aleksandar Vučić, who is currently president, has been steadily strengthening his hold on the media since taking office as prime minister in 2014.
“My main goal is to raise awareness about the state of media freedom in Serbia,” Šolak says,
referring to the news channel N1, which is currently under attack from Vučić.
He lashes out at individuals in the EU who support Vučić, saying, “I think Vučić is making a case of how a dictator can,
by playing nice and polite, get really far in Europe.”
This story also involves the Premier League, as Šolak’s cable network lost out on the rights in a bidding war last year,
despite a huge bid from state-controlled Telekom Serbia.
Šolak thinks that the idea is to utilize football to divert viewers from his cable bundles and, consequently, his unfavorable news outlets.
Although Šolak maintains that his choice to purchase Southampton had nothing to do with losing
the Premier League rights and that he has long desired to participate in elite sports, the timing of the transaction is undoubtedly interesting.
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