A RUSSIAN billionaire wants to hire Nottingham Castle when his martial arts team visits the city.

Sergei Matvienko has said only Nottingham Castle will be good enough for him and his entourage when he pays his first visit to England later this month.

The 35-year-old businessman is visiting Nottingham for the clash between the Red Devils from St Petersburg and a team from the USA.

Mr Matvienko has already rejected the President's Suite at the Park Plaza and has said Nottingham Castle is the only suitable venue for him and his 40-strong entourage.

The group will include fighters as well as Vadim Finkelchtein, president of M-1 global, the company which has organised the bout.

Tony McDonough, president of Warrior promotions, and vice president Andy Lillis, have organised the event.

They tried to book the castle but were told there were no rooms there.

Mr McDonough said: "They [the Russians] knocked back the President's Suite saying they were looking for something bigger and better. That is when the comment 'is there not a castle in Nottingham?' came up. I told him all about Robin Hood and he got quite excited."

Mr Matvienko, whose mother is the governor of St Petersburg, said: "I was looking forward to learning more about Robin Hood while staying at this historic place."

Dave Green, castle manager, said: "I explained that no one has lived here for a couple of hundred years.

"It definitely could not happen. We would have to buy in a lot of furniture and if you wanted to stay in a five-star hotel you would obviously expect an en-suite with a toilet and shower.

"Even if we charged £20,000 a night we could not put in all the plumbing."

Mr McDonough is now looking at London for Mr Matvienko and his group.

He said: "I'm trying to find something suitable and am just getting farther and farther away from Nottingham. I'm looking at putting them up in London or Birmingham and flying them in, but the problem is landing a helicopter at Harvey Hadden."