Ken Hodcroft
Ken Hodcroft is the managing director of Increased Oil Recovery and the chairman of Hartlepool United F.C. (HUFC).
Early life
Ken Hodcroft was born in Newcastle but moved to Leeds when he was five with his family. There he was educated at Leeds Grammar School and took his A-Levels. It was at Leeds Grammar that his passion for both football and rugby grew. During his time there, he also gained an O level maths a year early, did additional maths (Oxbridge), and the following year acquired chemistry, physics and biology A-Levels. Hodcroft considered becoming a doctor but was put off by the 5-year course. Thus, he returned to Newcastle to study and gain a 2.1 Honours degree in chemical engineering at the University of Newcastle instead. He then went to Imperial college,London to study for an Msc in Petroleum Engineering. He had been influenced to study Petroleum Engineering and to work in the Oil business after watching The Troubleshooters, a 1970s television programme about the oil industry.
Business career
After university, Hodcroft moved to the US for two years and worked for the oil company Phillips Petroleum in Louisiana, Texas, and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. While at Bartlesville he played football for Tulsa Roughnecks and was offered a contract there. However, he rejected it in favour of a career in the oil business.
Shortly afterwards, Hodcroft moved to Norway to continue working for Phillips Petroleum. After 7 years he moved to Aberdeen, Scotland. It was there where he decided to form the oil company IOR after seeing a gap in the market. IOR was based in Aberdeen and is still successfully running today.
Career as Chairman of HUFC
1997, Ken Hodcroft then moved back into football when IOR bought Hartlepool United from Harold Hornsey. Hodcroft then took over as chairman. During Hodcroft’s reign as chairman he has appointed four managers: Chris Turner in 1999, Mike Newell in 2002, Neale Cooper in 2003 and Martin Scott. In 2005 after the departure of Neale Cooper, Hodcroft was heavily criticised by the fans of Hartlepool for having a “lack of ambition”. However, Hodcroft responded issuing a statement stating that IOR were fully committed to the club . His fifth manager, Danny Wilson, was appointed in 2006 and left in December 2008. Chris Turner,Hartlepools Director of Sport, was appointed temporary manager.
Hodcroft has also had out-spoken views regarding football agents and has refused to co-operate with agents, “if you want to work for us then don't send your agents.” Hodcroft also pursued a feud[citation needed] with Michael Nelson’s agent following his demands for a more lucrative contract and stated that the club will not be held to ransom, “"If individual players or their agents do not like the way we do business then they will either have to adapt or find a club that is willing to succumb to their demands.”.
Since taking the club over, Ken Hodcroft and IOR have made substantial losses. At the club’s AGM meeting Hodcroft reported a loss of £184,000 for the financial year of 2005. Despite making a loss it was a major improvement on loss of around £500,000 in 2004 and 2003 and a loss of £900,000 for the year of 2002. Hodcroft has also revealed that IOR have provided Hartlepool with over £7.0 million of funding. Ken Hodcroft also funded the £500 fee for mascot H'Angus the Monkey, otherwise known as Stuart Drummond, to run for mayor.
The latest AGM notes can be found on the Clubs website at www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk
The Club celebrated its Centenary in 2008 and 10 years of IOR ownership in September 2007.The Club has had its most successful time in those ten years reaching play off after playoff and a playoff final at Cardiff where the Club was 8 minutes from winning and being promoted to the Championship .