A match ticket might cost 31 pence, but don't laugh too loud. While Celtic are making loan signings, Shakhtar Donetsk's billionaire owner has spent (pounds) 50 million on players with a new (pounds) 110m stadium on the way. So who are you calling a 'diddy team'?; Natasha Woods reports on the new star rising in the east where lofty ambitions are being backed with some serious cash

From: The Sunday Herald | Date: October 17, 2004| Author: Natasha Woods | Copyright information

THEY call Rinat Akhmetov the "Emperor of Donetsk" and he has a dream. The billionaire wants to turn his beloved Shakhtar into a major European force. He wants to re-draw the sporting map of his country, usurp Kiev and establish Donetsk as the football capital of the Ukraine.

And when you are reported to be worth over (pounds) 2bn, you normally get what you want. Unless you want to sign Zinedine Zidane.

"He has big ambitions, but more importantly he has the money to realise most...

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