John Batchelor (racing)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William John Batchelor (born 4 January 1959 in Sheffield, England) is an English businessman, politician and football investor. He was chairman of York City F.C. from 2002–03, during which time he was also the owner of York City Racing, a motor racing team competing in the British Touring Car Championship.

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[edit] Early life

Batchelor was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where he lived for a short period before moving to Surrey, Kent and Portgual due to his father's work.[1] He received four O-Levels at school and had an exchange year in Oregon, United States, after which he sold insurance door-to-door in East Lancashire.[1][2] He worked in this for nine months before selling cleaning products for five years, when he started "System Hygiene", a janitorial supplies company based in Accrington.[1][2] The company was sold to business partner Robin Huddleston for "single digit millions of pounds" in 1999.[2]

[edit] Racing career

He became a racing driver in 1999 after being backed by Blackburn Rovers and their sponsors, which helped him gain enough money to build a 220bhp Ford Fiesta and entered the Super Road Saloons Championship.[1] He won the title in his first season and moved into the Ford Fiesta Zetec Championship the year after and secured a sponsorship deal with BBC programme Top Gear, which saw him change his name to John Top-Gear through deed poll.[1] He entered the British Touring Car Championship in 2001 and after asking over 800 companies for financial support he persuaded B&Q, the DIY megastore, to join him before the start of the season and also changed his name to John B&Q to help him gain funding.[1][3] He stood as an independent candidate for Tatton in the 2001 general election,[4] which saw him win 0.8% of the electorate with 322 votes.[5] He injured his third, fourth and fifth vertical vertebrae in a race at Oulton Park in Cheshire,[2] which almost forced him to retire.[1] Batchelor secured a £1 million deal for his racing team to be sponsored by battery company VARTA in 2003.[6]

[edit] Football

Batchelor-era York City badge.
Batchelor-era York City badge.

Batchelor became the owner and chairman of York City F.C. on 15 March 2002 after buying the club from Douglas Craig.[7] After taking over the club, he said he had two sites in mind for a new 15,000-seated ground.[8] He revealed an interest in buying ITV Digital in May,[9] which he later admitted was unlikely to succeed.[10] He changed the club's name from York City Football Club to York City Soccer Club, in an attempt to appeal to United States markets.[3] Also Batchelor's racing brand was incorporated into other parts of the club, the official badge had a chequered flag brought into it, as did the first team kit, which had a racing style print on one sleeve.[11] He promised that he would buy York's Bootham Crescent ground, give the Supporters Trust 24% of the club's shares and invite two supporters onto the board, but none of these were fulfilled.[11] It was reported that Batchelor received some death threats in regards to way he was handling the club.[12] It went into administration and he was trying to purchase the club,[13] but the Supporters Trust eventually bought the club.[11]

He was apart of James Derry's bid to buy Mansfield Town in March 2008, but eventually launched his own bid to buy the club.[14] He revealed plans to rename the club "Harchester United", after the fictional team in the Sky series Dream Team.[15] This was called "absolutely bizarre" by Mansfield mayor Tony Egginton,[16] who was later appointed as the club's non-executive chairman, which put doubt on Batchelor's takeover bid.[17] He was later revealed to have had a £1.5 million bid for Accrington Stanley turned down by chairman Eric Whalley, which proposed moving a newly formed "Lancashire United" to Leigh and building a 10,000 seater stadium.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "York City are in for one hell of a ride", The Press, 2002-03-15. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  2. ^ a b c d Batchelor with singular ambition. York City South. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  3. ^ a b "Mansfield Town to be named after Sky Dream Team Harchester United under John Batchelor?", Chad, 2008-03-28. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  4. ^ Parliamentary Candidates. election.demon.co.uk. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  5. ^ Tatton. BBC News. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  6. ^ Team Varta. btccpages.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  7. ^ "Saved", The Press, 2002-03-15. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  8. ^ "York unveil new owner", BBC Sport, 2002-03-15. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  9. ^ "York chief's ITV digital bid", BBC Sport, 2002-05-01. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  10. ^ "Batchelor's ITV digital bid fades", BBC Sport, 2002-06-12. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  11. ^ a b c Bruce, Adam. This is our club!. Red & Blue NET. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  12. ^ "Batchelor receives death threats", BBC Sport, 2002-12-08. Retrieved on 2007-03-24. 
  13. ^ "Batchelor heads York bid", BBC Sport, 2003-02-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  14. ^ "Former York owner bids for Stags", BBC Sport, 2008-03-28. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  15. ^ "'Dream Team' vision for Stags bid", BBC Sport, 2008-03-28. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  16. ^ "Mayor slams Dream Team name plan", BBC Sport, 2008-03-29. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  17. ^ "Mansfield mayor handed Stags role", BBC Sport, 2008-03-31. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  18. ^ "Stanley reject £1.5M bid to buy club", Lancashire Telegraph, 2008-04-03. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.