David Haigh

David Haigh - Leeds United Managing Director

David Haigh (born 17 July 1977) is a British businessman and sports executive, currently Deputy Chief Executive of Gulf Finance House's subsidiary GFH Capital, an Islamic TMT investment bank based in Dubai, and Chief Executive of Leeds United Football Club.^[1]

Biography

Haigh moved to Cornwall at a young age with his Leeds family. Haigh wrote a column for his local newspaper, The Cornishman, aged 13,^[2] before moving on to other media entities,^[3] including several years working as a programme assistant at BBC Radio Cornwall. Haigh gained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Southampton in 1999, adding the Legal Practice Course from the College of Law a year later. He was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in September 2002.

Politics

Politically engaged from a young age (standing in his school's mock election at 14), Haigh was an active member of the Conservative Party in the St Ives constituency and helped raise funds for the Party at community events. Haigh was later elected a member of the Vauxhall Conservative Association Executive Committee and unsuccessfully stood for the Oval ward in the Lambeth Borough Council elections in 2006.

Continuing his political engagement in Dubai after joining GFH Capital, he launched "Gulf Tories", and as its Vice-Chairman, saw it become an official part of Conservatives Abroad. He continues to serve as Chairman of the Dubai and Northern Emirates section of Conservatives Abroad.

Career

Haigh continued working as a solicitor in London until 2005. He moved to the British Virgin Islands in 2005, and then to Dubai in 2006, where Haigh worked in investment banking, private equity and venture capital, as well as legal, regulatory and operational affairs. Haigh is a member of the Institute of Directors and the International Bar Association. He also manages Injazat Technology Fund (ITF), the first Islamic investment fund in the Middle East for technology, media and communications companies. Haigh has twice been nominated for 'General Counsel of the Year' at the Corporate Counsel Middle East Awards.^[4]

Leeds United

Haigh led GFH Capital's negotiations with the then-owner of Leeds United, Ken Bates, for the acquisition of the club.^[5] After six months of discussions, he finalised the deal with Bates for GFH Capital to acquire 100% of Leeds United. The agreement was formally announced at a press conference at Elland Road on 20 December 2012. Haigh joined the Leeds United Board and in February 2013 was made a Director. On the 1st of July 2013, Haigh was made Managing Director of the club.^[6][7]

Since the acquisition, Haigh has made changes at Leeds United designed to re-engage supporters. These have included reducing season ticket prices, the introduction of a half-season ticket, extended work in the local community and reaching out to the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust. In April 2013, Haigh was part of the team at Elland Road that brought manager Brian McDermott to the club following the departure of Neil Warnock.

On 7 January 2014, Haigh was involved in Sport Capital, a consortium involving the managing director of Leeds United's main sponsors, Enterprise Insurance, Andrew Flowers. Sports Capital came close to completing a transaction with GFH Capital that would have given them a 75% stakehold in the business.^[8]

However, on 30 January, Sport Capital's takeover collapsed due to a lack of "financial backing". Haigh, released a statement conceding that it was unable to complete a deal despite two months ago agreeing to purchase a 75% stake in the club from the owners Gulf Finance House. Haigh claimed he and Sport Capital had "injected substantial sums into the club to ensure its viability" but earlier in the week fellow consortium member Andrew Flowers, the managing director of Leeds' shirt sponsor Enterprise Insurance, stated that GFH had "breached their covenant with us" after inviting a rival bid from Massimo Cellino, the president of the Serie A club Cagliari Calcio.^[9] Haigh's statement on his personal website read:

"We [Sport Capital] signed a share acquisition agreement with GFH Capital at the end of last year. This meant, I believed, that we were in a position to move things forward and complete the transaction in time for the January transfer window. Unfortunately, however, some of the consortium's backers ultimately didn't feel able to deliver the financial backing we had hoped was agreed to take the club forward. I have met many, many potential investors over the past year and, sadly, while many are keen to talk the talk, they have been unable or unwilling to deliver in financial terms."^[10]

After weeks of speculation regarding the purchase of Leeds United,^[11] on 7 February 2014, Leeds United had announced that they had exchanged contracts for the sale of Leeds to Massimo Cellino's family consortium 'Eleonora Sport Ltd'. The deal saw the Cellino family acquire a 75% ownership of the club subject to Football League Approval. Haigh was promoted to Chief Executive under the new regime.^[12]

Charity

A committed philanthropist, Haigh supports a number of charities in the UK including the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust, English Heritage and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. In April 2013 he completed a 250km arctic charity husky trail for the Make A Wish Foundation. He completed the six-day adventure which took him through temperatures as low as -30 to raise funds for Make A Wish which supports his niece, Sienna who lives with the genetic disorder Homocystinuria (HCU).^[13] Haigh is co-founder of HCU Creds - a charity set up to help raise awareness of the little-known, life-threatening disease and to provide support and information for sufferers and their families.

References

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