Videoton, Uefa Cup runners-up in 1985, qualified for Europe by finishing second in the Hungarian league, while Maribor are Slovenian Cup winners and boast former Rangers winger Bojan Djordjic in their squad.
Not only would he revive Russian sales, but he would also protect Ikarus's 3, 000-odd workers by luring western companies into its acres of unused factories a tactic he had used to rescue Videoton, an old dinosaur in the electronics business.