As much as I love football, I seem to spend a lot of time moaning about it. With the season having just finished I thought it was therefore appropriate for me to have my last moan of the season. In this article I look at some of the worst decisions made by football chairman in recent years. It’s amazing to think that most of these individuals got their jobs because they apparently had business acumen…
Peter Risdale (Leeds United and Cardiff City)
In 1997, Peter Risdale became Chairman of his hometown clubs Leeds United and during his tenure helped Leeds reach the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. He also provided the financial backing that enabled Leeds to buy high profile players such as Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, and Robbie Keane. However, this short-term success was achieved off the back of some pretty disastrous financial planning. Under Risdale, Leeds borrowed £60m against future gate receipts, assuming that the club would continue to qualify for the Champions League and gain all the financial riches associated with it. As soon as Leeds failed to qualify for the Champions League problems began. Star players had to be sold to pay off the debt, contributing to their relegation from the Premiership and even more financial losses. By the time Risdale stepped down from his position, Leeds were £78 million in debt (despite selling £52 million worth of players).
The story doesn’t end here though. In October 2006, Risdale become Chairman of Cardiff City but under his stewardship the club faced five winding-up orders from the taxman. He eventually sold the club to a Malaysian consortium in 2010 with the club being £66 million in debt at the time. Risdale’s now the Chairman of Preston North End. Third time lucky? We can only hope…
Gillett and Hicks (Liverpool)
In February 2007, George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought Liverpool F.C. with their main priorities being to bring silverware back to the club, and to build a new stadium for the club in nearby Stanley Park. The pair were meant to usher in a new period of growth for the club without the excesses and debt associated with the Leeds United-Risdale debacle a few years earlier. However, Gillett and Hicks seemed to do everything they could do to destabilise the club. Owing to financing issues, the promised stadium was never built; and the pair became engaged in high profile public spats with Chief Executive, Rick Parry, and manager, Rafa Benitez. The pair also saddled the club with considerable debt, primarily resulting from the failure of Gillett and Hicks to meet interest payments on the loans taken out as part of their leveraged buy-out of the club. Indeed, by the time that Liverpool was eventually sold to the Fenway Sports Group in 2010 (a move Hicks tried to block) the club had debts worth £200 million.
The Venky’s (Blackburn Rovers)
In November 2010, the Indian based Venky’s poultry conglomerate bought a 99.9% stake in Blackburn Rovers. One of their first moves was sacking manager Sam Allardyce even though the team were 13th in Premier League and comfortably clear of the relegation zone. They replaced an experienced and reliable manager with Steve Kean, a member of the Blackburn backroom staff who had little previous managerial experience. It was no surprise that the club was relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2011/12 season. However, the Venky’s have come into their own this season (2012/13) having sacked three different mangers in the space of 12 months – a feat not even Roman Abramovich has yet achieved. Unsurprisingly then, Blackburn finished the 2012/13 season 17th in the Championship, a far cry from where the club was at the time of the Venky’s takeover.
The Venky’s are also noted for some other eccentricities including their inability to wear well-fitting suits (despite being very rich businessmen), promising to buy the likes of Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldinho, and forcing senior coaching staff to attend meetings in India at short notice.
Freddy Shepherd (Newcastle United)
It’s a tough job being a football chairman. Fans and managers will always come asking for more money but as some of these examples have shown, splashing the cash can itself cause real problems. However, there are things you can do to help yourself such as making sure you don’t alienate your customers and your key staff. This is where Freddy Shepherd failed spectacularly. During a ‘fake skeikh’ exposé from the News of the World, Shepherd was caught mocking Newcastle fans for spending lots of money on merchandise, described Newcastle female supporters as “dogs” and mocked Alan Shearer by calling him the “Mary Poppins of football.” Unsurprisingly, Shepherd soon resigned shortly after the story broke. Within six months however, he had voted himself back onto the board. Charming indeed.
