Described by Armstrong and Mitchell as "a wealthy individual from a patrician background with a love of football", "fast-talking, ebullient and indiscreet", "diminutive yet confident", Michael Zammit Tabona is the son of an entrepreneur who established Malta's second hotel in British colonial times, with a distant family connection to
Lord Mountbatten. Michael attended
St. Edward's College, where he was a difficult boarding pupil, then studied languages and hotel management in
Switzerland. In 1973, at 21, he was back in Malta, managing a hotel from the family properties. He also started purchasing second-hand vessels and renting them for advertising to the
Captain Morgan rum company; he later retained the brand for a new cruising company, today among the leading ones in Malta. Zammit Tabona led the development of
package holidays for British tourists to Malta in the 1970s and 1980s, catering to up to 30,000 holidaymakers annually. In the 1990s he opened a sea-front hotel in
Sliema, offering spa treatment and sport therapies. He also held shared of
Manchester United and had good connections in the board of directors of the British football club. == Presidency of Naxxar F.C. ==