Rupert Lowe

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Rupert Lowe is a British businessman, who was the Chairman of Southampton Football Club from 1996 to 2006.

1 Biography
2 Quotes
3 References

[edit] Biography

Rupert Lowe gained his reputation working in the city for companies such as Morgan Grenville and Deutsche Bank. He was also a board member of the London International Futures Exchange. He founded Secure Retirements a quoted care home provider with Andrew Cowen former Southampton FC Vice Chairman.

[edit] Southampton Football Club

When Lowe took control of Southampton he had minimal previous knowledge of football, although other English club chairmen past and present such as Alan Sugar, Jack Walker and most recently Roman Abramovich were similarly inexperienced when they bought their respective clubs.

In the mid-1990s, the Saints board were looking to float the club on the London Stock Exchange, a long and costly procedure. So instead they attempted a 'reverse takeover' as a way to reduce costs. They needed to find a company that had already floated and take it over while effectively being taken over themselves. Lowe's Secure Retirements, old peoples homes, was a perfect candidate. After the deal Lowe became chairman of the football club. Despite only being an avid Rugby watcher and Hockey player who had only seen his first professional football game 6 months previously. The resultant group was renamed Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC.^[1]

Fans groups were initially undecided about Lowe, he brought with him vast business expertise, a vital trait for any chairman of a football club but he also knew hardly anything about the game. Soon after taking over Graeme Souness, Manager and Lawrie McMenemy, Director of Football left the club citing 'difficulties' with the new owners, it came as a huge shock to many fans and to the local press who regarded McMenemy as 'Mr. Southampton'.

Lowe however did much to improve his image in the eyes of Saints fans and the media. He guided the club from their old stadium into the St Mary's Stadium. The club, like many others, continued to followed a policy of selling players to clubs for high prices. Dean Richards for £8 million and Kevin Davies for £7 million are good examples, especially considering that Davies was bought back by Southampton shortly afterwards for a much smaller fee. James Beattie, who joined the club for £1 million from Blackburn Rovers enjoyed great form at Southampton, and later joined Everton for £6 million. Lowe's financial astuteness contributed greatly to the financial stability of Southampton F.C.

Though his timing of managerial decisions are somewhat alarming and inconsistent, there were 8 managers during his period as chairman. Dave Jones left faced with a criminal investigation. His replacement Glenn Hoddle left to join Tottenham Hotspur in 2001. Lowe appointed a talented coach, Stuart Gray, as manager but after a disastrous start to the 2001-2002 season acted quickly. Gray was sacked and Gordon Strachan employed. In 2003 Saints went on to reach the FA Cup Final and qualified for Europe for the first time in nearly 20 years. By Christmas they were lying 4th in the league. However, it soon emerged that Gordon Strachan was refusing to extend his contract citing 'personal reasons', and Rupert Lowe and the board took the decision to replace him with Paul Sturrock before the end of the 2003-2004 season.

On 23 August 2004, manager Paul Sturrock parted company with the club by 'mutual consent'. Rupert Lowe seemed to make the same mistake as he did with Stuart Gray employing a good coach Steve Wigley, who seemed to lack the steely will needed for a manager of any business. Just like the appointment of Gray three years earlier, Lowe appeared to be taking a huge gamble by employing another untested coach, and allegedly exploited his own influence by indulging himself more and more in team affairs, including the much documented "Delgado Affair". The appointment of Wigley also broke Premiership rules requiring all managers to have the relevant coaching qualifications. With the teams form deteriorating Lowe sacked Wigley in November of the same year. He was replaced, to much furore, by former Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp. Results, however, were actually worse in the second half of the season than in the first. Lowe appointed former England Rugby Manager Sir Clive Woodward as Performance Director. However the team was relegated to the Championship in 2005, with the legacy of Lowe appointing three managers in one season being the ultimate reason for the Clubs downfall.

After a mediocre start to the 2005-06 season Harry Redknapp resigned as manager citing personal reasons and a wish for a break from football. However he soon thereafter re-joined Southampton's rivals Portsmouth. George Burley was appointed his replacement in December 2005. Sir Clive Woodward was promoted to Director of Football. Although supporters approved of bringing in new techniques that had worked in other sports, this move was once again seen by many fans as gambling the clubs Premiership status with another experiment. However the club were unable to mount a push for promotion back to the Premiership.

On 30th June 2006 Lowe resigned under huge pressure from club supporters, including the newly formed Saints Trust, following the club's failure to win promotion after relegation from the Premier League in the 2004/05 season. Michael Wilde, a new investor in Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc, led a new team of directors in taking over the club.

[edit] Football powerbroker

Lowe has served as a member of the Football Association Board as a Premier League representative and as a FA Councillor. He had been mooted as a potential future FA Chairman.

[edit] Political career

Lowe stood for election as the Referendum Party candidate for Cotswold to the House of Commons in the 1997 general election.

[edit] Quotes

Lowe - "Once you get into debt, the bank manager comes into the club to run the team."
Souness - "You tell me if there is anyone else in football by the name of Rupert?"
Lowe - "My own view is that walking away is the easy option. Staying and sorting it out is much harder."
Lowe - summing up the scepticism surrounding player Delgado: "Short of putting him in a cage and dragging him to the training ground, I can't guaranteee anything."
Lowe - on Hoddle's departure to Spurs: "This whole thing has been a mess from start to finish, something needs to be done about it."
Mandaric: - chairman of Portsmouth has said of him "I've spent more on petty cash than Rupert Lowe has spent on players. The only time I would ask him for advice is if I want to buy a hockey club, as that is his field of expertise. We'll see which club spends more in the transfer market, with friends like him, who needs enemies?"