- Ron Noades
Infobox Football biography
playername = Ron Noades
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countryofbirth =United Kingdom
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manageryears = Years
1998
1998–2000
managerclubs = Clubs
fc|Crystal Palace (caretaker)
fc|BrentfordRon Noades is a British businessman who has a strong connection with investments in football clubs. In his time, he has been chairman of Southall, Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and Brentford between 1981 and 1998.
As Crystal Palace chairman, he led them through their brightest period, which included promotion to the old First Division (1989), an
FA Cup final (1990), a third-placed finish in the First Division (1991), and a win in the Zenith Data Systems Cup (also 1991).In 1998, Noades sold his interest in Palace to recruitment tycoon
Mark Goldberg , for a fee of £22,000,000 (although Noades actually lent Goldberg £5,000,000 of this, as he could not afford it). The fee included the club and its players' contracts, but not Selhurst Park Stadium, Palace's home ground. As the club prepared for relegation from the Premiership, Noades acted as caretaker manager, after the appointment ofAttilio Lombardo andTomas Brolin failed to save Palace from relegation. Head CoachTerry Venables took over management of the team following Noades departure from the club that summer.With the sale of club fully completed, Goldberg's financiers withdrew their interest, and he found himself in debt to Noades. The club went through a subsequent administration, which lasted until 2000.
After leaving Palace he became chairman, and subsequently also first team manager of Brentford from July 1998, taking the side into Division Two as Division Three champions, earning Noades the divisional Manager of the Year title. He ended both roles in 2000, and sold his majority shareholding in the club to supporters group Bees United in January 2006. At the time of his departure, Noades had left the club struggling to balance their books with estimated debts of £8 million. Noades claimed that he had been keeping them afloat by the input of his own money since he bought the club and that he decided he could no longer warrant the huge loss with such little support from fans. However, it was subsequently discovered that Noades had put none of his own money into the club but was borrowing money from Barclays Bank against Brentford FC's main asset (Griffin Park). Noades stated that the main reason he purchased Brentford FC was that it had virtually no debt. When he left the club it had accumulated over £6m of debt.
Current Palace chairman
Simon Jordan made public his intentions to either purchase and re-develop Selhurst Park, or move to a new stadium, however Noades announced in April 2006 that Jordan had not made any offers for the stadium, and that he had no intention of selling the stadium, either. However, in October 2006, Jordan announced he had purchased the freehold of the stadium site four days previously for £12m, using an investment mechanism that kept his identity secret. It later turned out that this was incorrect and the freehold was owned by companies under the control ofPaul Kemsley . Jordan announced in April 2008 that he had secured the football club a 25 year lease for Selhurst Park Stadium together with the option to purchase the freehold within that period.Noades still owns several golf courses in the south-east of England, known as the Altonwood Group, which includes Surrey National, Westerham, The Addington, Woldingham and Godstone 9 hole.
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