Chris Roberts (chairman)
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Chris Roberts is an English businessman, who served as chairman of Torquay United Football Club between October 2006 and February 2007.


Torquay United chairmanship

Chris Roberts and three other directors set up Torquay United Holdings Ltd to buy shares in October 2006 from Torquay United Football Club owner
Mike Bateson Mike Bateson is an England, English businessman and former chairman of Torquay United F.C., Torquay United Football Club. Bateson was brought up in Blackpool and after a spell in the Scots Guards made his fortune selling double glazing in the Sou ...
over a four-year deal. Bateston still "owned" the club by retaining a 51 per cent share, while 34% of the club's shares were sold to the consortium. His past career is heavily based in football having played in the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
when young, and performed various roles in the sport, such as being an advisor to
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
and
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
and being involved in the deal that brought
Mark Viduka Mark Antony Viduka ( ; born 9 October 1975) is an Australian former Association football, football player who played as a centre forward. Viduka captained the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup ...
to
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. As a former FIFA Players Agent, Roberts worked closely with several clubs as he was experienced with the Overseas Labour Service and acquired many work permits for non-EEA Players. In November 2006, Roberts introduced a new initiative whereby Torquay players would be disciplined and potentially dismissed if they dived and constantly brought the Club's reputation into disrepute, by repeatedly trying to fool referees by diving.'' This did not prove very popular in the UK as the Players Union felt sidelined, but the idea gained a lot of support from the US
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
. UEFA also supported the move in principle. This may have sowed the seeds for UEFA's recent decision to hold players to account for diving, post match to the annoyance of
Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...
, following Arsenal's game with Celtic in the Champions League in 2009. On 27 November 2006 Roberts appointed his friend from the Czech Republic, Lubos Kubik, as manager and Bateson's son-in-law, Richard Hancox as his assistant. Former manager
Ian Atkins Ian Leslie Atkins (born 16 January 1957) is an English football manager, scout, and former player. Atkins amassed over 300 appearances for Shrewsbury Town, the club where he began his career. He also made appearances in the Football League for ...
was offered the post of Director of Football, but decided against staying with the new regime. On 4 January 2007 the Torquay United Supporters Trust released a press statement proposing a vote of no confidence in Roberts as chairman of the football club, two days before their first planned meeting with the new board, which was cancelled. On 6 February 2007, Roberts probably made his best decision by appointing fan's favourite
Colin Lee Colin Lee (born 12 June 1956) is an English football manager and former footballer. He is currently head of football at South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon along with Chris Beard. Playing career Lee began his football career w ...
as the new director of football. Lee signed a three-year deal and said ''"Over the next 3 years I intend to implement a new blue print for the football department of Torquay United to put us on a par with comparable sized clubs higher up the Football League ladder."'' Lee followed this by appointing former player
Keith Curle Keith Curle (born 14 November 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, who was most recently the manager of National League side Hartlepool United. He played as a centre back from 1981 to 2005, notably in the Prem ...
as the new head coach. Along with the appointment of Colin Lee, Roberts did make some positive changes, including the creation of the 'Educational Soccer Development Programme' in conjunction with Paignton Community Sports College, which brought youth team football back to Plainmoor. He also appointed Sally Eagling as Marketing Manager. Sally continued until the end of the 2008-09 season,GULLS BID FAREWELL TO SALLY
thisissouthdevon.co.uk, 14 May 2009 and helped the new local consortium which eventually bought the Club from Mike Bateson. The Club struggled at the bottom of the league, the gate receipts for 15 consecutive home games, were down by 1,000 supporters a match, this reduced income by approximately £150,000 over a 3-month period, the Consortium were unable to raise the additional funds to maintain the Club, Roberts took the only decision possible and handed the Club back to Bateson and resigned as chairman on 14 February 2007. Ironically Roberts always maintained that Torquay United need to develop a new Stadium, otherwise they would struggle to compete financially, however he never had the opportunity to implement his long term plans.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Chris English football chairmen and investors Torquay United F.C. Living people Year of birth missing (living people)