Lionel Pickering
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Lionel Victor Pickering (March 5, 1932 - September 2, 2006) was the owner of Derby County from 1991 to 2003.
He purchased the club for £13 million in 1991 from Robert Maxwell and invested heavily in players over the next two years spending nearly £10 million. His fortune was made primarily by his empire of local free newspapers and the advertising revenue generated from them.
In January 1992, with Arthur Cox's cheaply-reconstructed side just in touch with the leading pack, Lionel embarked on one of the biggest spending sprees in the club's history with the £1m signing of Marco Gabbiadini from Crystal Palace. Following him in that season were Paul Kitson, Tommy Johnson & Paul Simpson, followed by Steve Sutton, Mark Pembridge, Darren Wassall, Craig Short & Martin Kuhl the year after.
In 1995, appointed Jim Smith in order to change the club's fortunes around. However with a string of superb signings and the inspired hiring of future England coach Steve McClaren as assistant manager, Jim took the Rams back into the top flight in his first season.
Pickering put DCFC right at the forefront of English football by building Pride Park Stadium while many other clubs were thinking about similar moves. Lionel also presided over the development of the first-class academy for young footballers at Moor Farm.
As the club's fortunes levelled off and subsequently began to slump, there was a fair amount of disquiet amongst fans. Lionel simply went onto Radio Derby and said "if you can do better, where's your money and if you don't like it go and watch Forest". Supporters were angered by this incident, which was the catalyst for poor relations between Lionel and many the Derby Fans.
Derby County's parent company, Derby County Limited, went briefly into liquidation in October 2003 and Lionel Pickering, the majority shareholder gave way to a new board of John Sleightholme, Jeremy Keith and Steve Harding, who bought the club for £3.
The police are currently investigating whether any illegal payments were made at this time. Derby finished 20th in the 2003-2004 First Division campaign but improved dramatically in the 2004-2005 season and finished 4th in the Football League Championship (the new name for the Football League First Division) and qualified for a promotion play-off spot, though lost in the semi-finals to Preston North End.
Lionel Pickering died of cancer in the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary on Saturday, 2 September 2006, aged 74. He leaves three sons. A one minute's applause at Derby County's following home game against Sunderland on Saturday, 9th September, 2006 was held; followed by a memorial service at Derby Cathedral on Tuesday, 26th September 2006. At the request of Mr Pickering's family, attendees were asked to come dressed in Derby County shirts.
It is also believed that the new Chairman, Peter Gadsby, wants to leave a permanent memorial to Lionel Pickering at Pride Park Stadium.
