Source: Telegraph
Liverpool takeover: Tom Hicks and George Gillett can't rival these disastrous owners
George Reynolds Darlington Reynolds, a former safe cracker, took over the club at the turn of the century with big ideas. But unrealistic ones. Having paid off the club's debts, moving a club with an average attendance below 5,000 in to a 27,000 capacity all-seater stadium the modestly titled George Reynolds Arena as was crippled the club financially and he was forced to give up control after they fell in to administration. Reynolds has since been sent to prison for tax evasion. [LNB]Dmitry Pieterman Racing Santander/Deportivo Alaves After Pieterman purchased a controlling share in Racing he immediately appointed himself as manager. Unfortunately rules in Spain prevent unqualified numpties running the team and so, after he was censured by the Spanish authorities, he tried to bypass the restrictions by claiming, at different times, to be either a club photographer or journalist to get match day access to the team. When that didn't work he moved on to Alaves, whom he promptly relegated. [LNB] Related ArticlesLiverpool takeover: Q&ALiverpool takeover pleases HodgsonHenry relishes numbers gameCarragher's cautious welcome to Liverpool biddersLiverpool suitors make debt pledgeHenry would be 'tremendous' owner for LiverpoolKen Richardson Doncaster Rovers Say what you like about Gillett and Hicks, they have yet to try and burn down Anfield to claim the insurance money. That's what Richardson did with Rovers' previous home, Belle Vue, in 1995, as the club sank out of the Football League with a team containing just nine professionals picked by a man, Mark Weaver, who had previously been in charge of Stockport County's commercial fund-raising, all the coaches having been sacked to save money. Richardson was convicted after one of his hired goons, a former SAS officer, left his mobile at the scene of the attempted crime. [LNB]Anton Johnson Scarborough After overseeing the rapid decline of Rotherham United and Southend, at one point illegally holding a stake in both clubs, Johnson ended up at Scarborough in 1998. The club were relegated out of the Football League the following year and, under crippling debts of around £2.5m, were wound up in 2007. [LNB]Bjorn Rune Gjelsten Wimbledon After Sam Hammam had unsuccessfully tried to relocate the original incarnation of Wimbledon FC to places as far reaching as Dublin he sold up to a group of Norwegian investors, fronted by Gjelsten. They appointed Charles Koppel as chairman and he was finally successful in tearing the club from its home in South London, forging the way for the formation of MK Dons and in the process effectively killing a club who had risen from the non-league to top-flight mainstays and FA Cup winners in the space of 20 years. [LNB]Darren Brown Chesterfield On assuming control of the club Brown instantly heaped unmanageable debt on a previously well-run club to fund a personal lifestyle that was unsustainable. A four-year prison sentence after investigation by the Serious Fraud Office revealed the extent to which Brown was systematically running the club in to the ground to play the high roller. [LNB]
