Martin Edwards

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Charles Martin Edwards (b. 24 July 1945) was the chairman of Manchester United from 1980 until approximately 2000. He still remains at Manchester United as honorary life president of the club.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Education
- 1.2 Manchester United
2 Contoversy
3 Reference

[edit] Biography

[edit] Education

Edwards was born in Adlington, Cheshire, England. At thirteen, he failed the entrance exam for Stowe School, his parents' first choice, and went to Cokethorpe instead. He left at 18 with six O levels and no A levels.

[edit] Manchester United

He was elected to the Manchester United board in March 1970. He became chairman in March 1980 when the previous chairman his father Louis died. When the Football Association voted to allow football clubs to have one paid director, he became Chief Executive and paid himself an annual salary of £30,000.

He had never shown much interest in football before inheriting the club, preferring to play rugby on Saturday afternoons until giving up through injury. He tried to sell United to Robert Maxwell in 1984 and to the property developer Michael Knighton in 1988. The sale for £10m collapsed when after being given access to the club's books Knighton was unable to raise the funds to pay for the club. However Knighton was still given a seat on the board, and sources at the time [1] suggested that this was in exchange for keeping quiet about what he had seen in the books.

After the failed sale the club's other directors persuaded Edwards to float the club on the stock market. This raised significant funds the majority for the existing shareholders such as Edwards. Being a public company did not have the stabalising effect that was originally hoped for. The club has been subject to takeover proposals by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB with Edwards reportedly agreeing to sell his stake for £98m [2]. Martin Edwards gradually disposed of his equity in the club and resigned as Chief Executive in 2000, appointing Peter Kenyon as his successor.

The Irish duo J.P. McManus and John Magnier also built a significant stake in the club. The club however continued to have unprecedented success on the football pitch despite an uneasy relationship between manager Alex Ferguson and Edwards.

Edwards was forced to resign as Chairman in 2002 after allegations of using a prostitute on an official club business trip to Switzerland. He however continued to represent the club at FA and UEFA meetings. [3]

He still remains at Old Trafford as honorary life president and sits on the clubs Football Board alongside Sir Bobby Charlton.

[edit] Contoversy

He has been subject to several newspaper allegations about his private life, one of which alleged that that "he enjoyed spying on women using the toilets at Old Trafford". Whether true or not, he resiged from his post at Manchester United soon after, though his nickname "toilet sniffer" is still widely used. [4]