For football fans, not only those from Krakow, Christmas in 2018 will for a long time be associated with an umbrella, Cambodian businessman (or even, in theory, a member of the royal family) Vanna Ly, Swede Mats Hartling and waiting filled with mockery. Not for the first star, but for a transfer. The PLN 12 million paid to the club account of “White Star” by December 28 was to ensure the club's survival and be the beginning of the era of new owners. However, the days leading up to New Year's Eve 2018 were even more absurd.
The biggest firecracker before New Year's Eve. “Flight Across the Atlantic”
The largest firecracker was set off not on New Year's Eve, but the day before, on December 30, at 7:39 p.m. With this flash, New Year's Eve fireworks were like shots from a percussion gun. It was then that information appeared explaining the lack of a transfer triggering the clause regarding the purchase of the club by foreign investors. There was no transfer. The most important investor from Cambodia, running his business from a small office in Luxembourg, was also absent. After watching the match at Reymonta and meeting the president of Krakow, Ly flew out of Małopolska and was never heard from again. He also became elusive to his business partners. The club explained it in its own way.
“NCP, Mr. Adam Pietrowski and Wisła Kraków SA were informed that Mr. Vanna Ly – director of Alelega Luxembourg, fell seriously ill on Friday, December 28 during a flight across the Atlantic. Therefore, no one was able to contact him. The above-mentioned entities are doing everything to everything possible to successfully complete the club acquisition process as planned. In the meantime, our thoughts are with Mr. Ly and his family,” these few epic sentences read.
The message was commented on thousands of times, with irony, disbelief, nervousness and simple amusement. “Maybe he flew with the cheapest airlines and it was cold on the plane,” commented one of the fans, referring to the fact that the businessman arrived in Krakow with low-budget airlines. There were more similar statements: “Take it off, not many people have read it yet”, or an appeal from a Krakow journalist: “I don't agree to this farce. It's too much. Stop. It's over. Someone stop it. It has exceeded the limits of absurdity. No previous jokes, not even “Hey @TSWislaKrakow you trampled this club.” The information posted by the club then lives on the internet to this day. Vanna Ly is back now too. “After six years, do we know where Mr. Vanna Ly has reached and what is his current health condition?” – fans ask on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the unlucky flight across the Atlantic.
“I defended myself with my hands and feet”
The person who suggested the content of the message i who ordered it to be published was Adam Pietrowski. A little-known manager who, upon the conditional purchase of Wisła by foreign investors, served as the club's director, but had little to do with PR. Wisła's spokeswoman Karolina Kawula (now Biedrzycka) couldn't do much at that time.
– I didn't want to put it on the website at first. At the beginning I defended myself with my arms and legs, but Adam Pietrowski said that he was the one giving the orders and I had to do it. If I hadn't published this statement, I would have had to leave. Then I decided that if I didn't do it, I wouldn't show the world what was really happening here – she once recalled in an interview with Interia. She added that after the publication, she received dozens of calls from journalists, sponsors and fans declaring help.
It is difficult to say whether the school text explaining the failed transaction, blaming it on health and providing support to the Cambodian investor was a kind of time game, and in Krakow they were really counting on a miracle. Especially since the media even suggested that Ly had a heart attack. Nothing like this happened.
In the following days, in a more professional manner, Wisła announced the annulment of the club's sale agreement, which from the very beginning looked like a farce mixed with tragedy.
“He burps himself and pretends to be crippled when he flies to New York”
One of the most successful clubs in the history of Polish football was taken over by an organized criminal group pretending to be its fans, which regularly robbed it. That's why at the end of 2018 it found itself in a dramatic financial situation and urgently needed support, normal structures and a new owner. On December 18, 2018, an agreement was signed in the lobby of one of the hotels in Zurich, under which Ly was to take over 60 percent. club shares, and Mats Hartling – 40 percent.
There were doubts about this transaction from the beginning. They were further fueled by the behavior of Ly, who flew to Krakow dressed as an ordinary tourist wanting to see Wawel. He hid from the media, covering himself with an umbrella, which he put in front of photojournalists' lenses, which he explained as “photophobia”. He really wanted to remain anonymous. In addition, there was no specific information about his previous business achievements. If they appeared, they concerned unpaid bills, lack of turnover of a small company, or failure to hire employees. News regarding football academies he allegedly opened around the world and clubs of which he is a shareholderdid not correspond to reality. In addition, his partner Hartling's business was registered… in a cigar shop and it also looked like a bush company.
Cambodian-Swedish investors presented their business visions to the then mayor of Krakow at a meeting which, by the way, must have been an interesting event. They talked about their willingness to invest in the academy, purchase land and a hotel facility.
– The slant-eyed man was the most active. He was basically the only speaker. The Swede only added information, Mr. Pietrowski didn't say anything – Jacek Majchrowski later reported it.
Hartling, who later felt cheated by Ly by the whole situation, announced a fight in court. It was no use. The names of both men and Piotrowski later appeared sporadically in the Polish media in the context of their new business ideas. Piotrowski was supposed to be in one of the funds interested in Silesia Wrocław. A few years ago, Ly explored the purchase of a club from Izmir, in sunny Turkey. Most often, however, the mentioned characters and their stories return at the end of each year. Ly even entered the world of Polish pop culture. Rapper Pepson dedicated a song to him describing his story. “I will bring Messi, Ronaldo and other stars here. Only here with me you will have a great ride” – reads one of the verses of the recording, in which we also hear, among others: about a “Cambodian umbrella used as a weapon” or a businessman who “makes a fool of himself with his appearance and pretends to be a cripple when flying to New York”.
Let us recall that in 2020, the owners of Wisła were ultimately Jakub Błaszczykowski, Tomasz Jażdżyński and Jarosław Królewski and saved the club from bankruptcy.