Roy Gardner (businessman)

Sir Roy Alan Gardner (born 20 August 1945) is a British businessman and former director of Manchester United and most recently Plymouth Argyle. Gardner is notable for his involvement in the sale of Manchester United to American businessman Malcolm Glazer and his controversial spell as chairman of Plymouth Argyle, which resulted in the club entering administration with debts of over £17 million and accusations of financial mismanagement.

Early life

Born in Brentford, he was the eldest son of a carpenter, Roy Thomas Gardner, and his wife Iris Joan (née Paine) and was brought up in Middlesex and Surrey in humble surroundings. He initially wanted to be a professional footballer, and supported Manchester United from the age of 8. He went to Strode's School (a grammar school, and became Strode's College in 1975) in Surrey. In the holidays he worked at Wall's.

Career

BAC and GEC

He started his career at the British Aircraft Corporation through their accounting apprentice scheme, working in the Commercial Aircraft Division from 1963 to 1975. He joined the Marconi Company Ltd in 1975. From 1979 to 1985, he was Group Finance Director of the Marconi Space and Defence part of the company. From January 1986 he was the Finance Director of Standard Telephones and Cables (STC plc). He became managing director of STC Communication Systems. Nortel took over STC in 1991 and he became chief operating officer of Northern Telecom Europe. He then became managing director of GEC Marconi Ltd, succeeding Arnold Weinstock from 1992 to 1994.

Centrica

He joined British Gas in November 1994 as Executive Director, Finance and was involved in splitting the company into two parts. He was the Chief Executive of Centrica plc from February 1997 (when it first formed when British Gas demerged) until October 2005. Under his leadership, Centrica bought the AA. He was replaced by Sam Laidlaw.

He left to join Compass Group plc becoming non-executive chairman in July 2006. He is a Senior Adviser to Credit Suisse. He is non-executive Chairman of Connaught plc. He has also chaired the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network since December 2002. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Royal Society of Arts. He is a companion of the Chartered Management Institute. In June 2007 he became President of the Energy Institute. In 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Thames Valley University.

Manchester United

Gardner became a director of Manchester United in December 1999. He was appointed as non-executive chairman of Manchester United plc in November 2001, taking over from Sir Roland Smith on 31 March 2002. In April 2005, he and the Manchester United board issued a statement recommending against the proposed buyout by Malcolm Glazer and his family, saying the "proposed capital structure […] still contains more leverage [debt] than the board would consider prudent"; however, they were forced to issue a contrary statement a month later, once the Glazers had acquired enough shares to constitute a majority stake in the club. Gardner resigned as chairman in June 2005, shortly after the Glazer takeover, as did his fellow non-executive directors Jim O'Neill and Ian Mutch. In 2010, Gardner reiterated his criticism of the method the Glazers used to purchase Manchester United, describing it as not "a sustainable model".

Plymouth Argyle

In July 2009, Gardner and business partner Keith Todd secured ownership of 13 percent of Championship team Plymouth Argyle as part of a consortium of international and local businesses which took over the club. He stated that it was the consortium's ambition to see Argyle promoted to the English Premier League within five years. Gardner also stated that he wished to "develop a better understanding of the club's precise needs, plan to progressively increase the budget for new players, in particular as we grow the commercial income of the club". However, he rarely attended Plymouth Argyle games in person and remained physically distanced from the club.

Gardner then went on to take part in the sale of Plymouth Argyle's main asset, its stadium Home Park to a newly formed property company named Home Park Properties which was a subsidiary of Plymouth Argyle Football Company (Holdings). The sale was deemed to have cost £7.5 million, however it was only a paper transaction, paid for by turning loans into equity claiming that such a move would increase the chances of the club acquiring loans from potential investors.

Under Gardner's chairmanship, Plymouth Argyle's financial position rapidly deteriorated. The football club was issued with a number of winding up orders over unpaid taxes and debts became unsustainable . Gardner resigned as chairman on 27 December 2010 and the club entered administration shortly afterwards. The Guardian accused Gardner of profiting from the club's financial plight through his "Mastpoint" company, which was established to finance the development of Plymouth Argyle's stadium and surrounding land. The company also became Plymouth Argyle's largest creditor after the club entered administration. The club formally exited administration on 31 October 2011 but only after Plymouth City Council agreed to re-purchase the stadium and other land belonging to the club was sold to local entrepreneur James Brent. It is unclear how much money Gardner personally received from these sales. The club was close to being liquidated after 125 years of history whilst staff had been without pay for almost a year.

External links

• Employers for Apprentices
• Best of British Industry Award 2006
• National Portrait Gallery
• Knighthood 2002

News items

• Guardian May 2003
• Telegraph September 2002
• Independent June 1999

Business positions
New creation	Centrica plc chief executive 1997–2005	Succeeded by Sam Laidlaw
Preceded by Martin Edwards	Manchester United F.C. chairman 2002–2005	Succeeded by Joel and Avram Glazer
Preceded by Paul Stapleton	Plymouth Argyle F.C. chairman 2009–2010	Succeeded by Peter Ridsdale (acting)