MAD MAX - AND MORE

'Hooligans in the boardroom' in the 80s.

In this latest extract from my forthcoming book, ‘Where’s The Money Gone?’ I recall Robert Maxwell and some of the other rogues and chancers who roamed the boardrooms of English football in the 80s, setting the pattern for decades to come.

(Illustration: Off The Ball)

My initiation into journalism came in the mid 1980s when greedy speculators were already exploiting weaknesses in the game’s governance.

Among the most egregious owners of this era was Robert Maxwell, a bullying media magnate who dabbled in several clubs.

Born in Czechoslovakia with the name Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch, he escaped Nazi occupation, and became a post-war refugee to Britain.

He could have been seen as an inspirational immigrant success story.

Maxwell was elected as a Labour MP for six years, and owned the Daily Mirror, the UK’s only left leaning tabloid, but there were also strong suspicions that he worked for Israel’s intelligence service Mossad.

After his death, it emerged that ‘the bouncing Czech’ had stolen £400 million from his workers’ pension funds, leaving the taxpayer to pick up a hefty tab for compensation.

Even then, former employees only received roughly half of their entitlements.

All in all, Maxwell was a shameless conman, although the warning signs had been visible to anyone who wanted to see them.

An investigation into his publishing business by the UK Board of Trade ruled in 1971 that “he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company”.

This proved no barrier to his ownership of an English football club.

In January 1982, with his local club Oxford United reported to be a fortnight away from bankruptcy, Maxwell stepped in as saviour.

15 months later, the hero turned villain, with his proposal to merge Oxford with hated local rivals Reading FC. Their respective grounds would be sold off, and the new team, called ‘Thames Valley Royals, would play at a new stadium somewhere between the two towns.

Supporters of both clubs were livid but the football authorities, as so often, were dazzled by the glare of money and power, so did nothing.

It took the eagle eye of Roger Smee, a former Reading player, to scupper the plan.

Smee, who ran a successful construction business, undertook a forensic examination of his old club’s accounts and questioned how shares which had previously been unissued were now being used to support the Thames Valley move.

He tipped off Roy Tranter, one of the club’s directors who was opposed to the merger, and secured a High Court injunction, putting the merger on hold.

With both fan groups now mobilised, the scheme’s supporters on the Reading board resigned.

Maxwell, the architect of the plan, faced no sanction from the Football League or FA.

Later he became chairman of Derby County, whilst retaining an interest in Oxford United - a blatant breach of Football League regulations that restricted involvement in more than one club.

The League only intervened when he later tried to add to his portfolio by buying Watford from Elton John.

Oxford United, ironically, enjoyed success under Maxwell.

They played in the top division and won the League Cup final at Wembley in 1986, beating QPR 3-0, but the financial foundations were rotten.

In the fallout from Maxwell’s death, supporters had to rattle collection buckets outside the Manor Ground when the club almost went bust again.

The League’s reluctance to act against Maxwell in the 80s meant that football was seen as easy prey by greedy speculators.

Property developer David Bulstrode, attempted to engineer another ‘merger most foul’ between Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, which would have left him free to flog off Craven Cottage, in a prime riverside location in West London.

Ken Wheldon, a scrap metal merchant, likewise had eyes on the resale value of Walsall’s Fellows Park, when he proposed moving The Saddlers to Birmingham City’s St Andrews ground in 1986.

Save Walsall Action Group, led by local social housing activist Barrie Blower, organised public meetings attended by hundreds of fans to campaign against this all too evident attempt at asset stripping.

Blower eventually secured a new backer for the club, who provided them with a modern stadium inside the borough of Walsall.

There was no sanction for Wheldon or Bulstrode; nor indeed Robert Maxwell.