John Gurney

Ex-Managing Director

A businessman in the property industry, John put together a consortium that purchased Luton Town Football Club in May 2003 when popular chairman Mike Watson-Challis decided to retire (although he remained a part of the club as Life President). 

However, John made the worst possible start to his time at the club when he brought in Peter Miller as chief executive – but just 2 days after taking control, Mr. Miller then proceeded to sign 2 letters that sacked both manager Joe Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford – a Luton legend – and this obviously enraged the Luton fans.

John Gurney faces the media.

John then further frustrated the Hatters supporters by not coming forward and naming the new consortium in control of the club.  This resulted in the Luton supporters protesting at the club’s Kenilworth Road ground over the sackings of Kinnear and Harford, and the silence from John and his consortium.  Still unaware at this current time that John was a part of this consortium, there were rumours that he may be involved, but nothing concrete had come forward.

As 300 Luton supporters protested at the ground, there was a board meeting held at the ground by some members of the new consortium, and it turned slightly nasty as cars were kicked, spat at and had eggs thrown at them.  However, the only statement that was made was by former Peterborough United chairman Roger Terrell and ex-Posh striker Lee Power, who said that they were due to be appointed as the new chairman and vice-chairman respectively that day – but were now re-thinking having seen the reaction of the Luton supporters.

Mr. Terrell and Mr. Power then declined the opportunity to become a part of the new consortium, and it left John in a rather precarious position.

A bizarre new statement was then released by Eric Hood, a former member of the board, who claimed that Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford hadn’t actually been sacked, and were in fact still employed by the club.  This obviously led to much confusion, and the supporters were left even further in the dark.

It was all calling for drastic action from the fans – and some Hatters supporters who used our very own Lutonfc.com Message Board decided to set up a new Luton Town Supporters’ Trust – Trust In Luton.  They staged a public meeting at which some 1,500+ Luton fans attended at the club’s Kenilworth Road ground – and John’s name was now being firmly linked with the club.  Although he hadn’t officially come forward, the media had found his name to be one of those forming the new consortium, and John was not a popular man with the Luton fans.

The Hatters supporters were doing everything that they could possibly think of to try to bring the whole situation at the club to the attention of the national media, and as well as the protest, setting up Trust In Luton and staging the public meeting, a supporter even made an online petition, which can be found HERE.

After conducting their own research, as well as news released on the local radio and in the local newspapers, the Luton fans learned that John had previously been in control of Bedford Rugby Club – and what they found out was not about to instill any more confidence in them!

John purchased Bedford Rugby Club in 1999, and he wasn’t seen for months – although it is hardly surprising given that he was allegedly charged along with others of smuggling over £40 million worth of cocaine. The police, however, did not proceed with the charges.

Bedford Rugby Club had been owned by boxing promoter Frank Warren, but the man who owned Sports Network, and who were funding The Blues, decided that they simply couldn’t afford to keep financing the club. Mr. Warren’s assets had been frozen at that current time due to an ongoing dispute with the American boxing promoter Don King.

Mr. Warren was a big fan of Bedford Rugby Club, and, deciding that he wanted to put the interests of the club first to secure a “Bright Future”, he sold the club for just £1 to anyone who could take the club forward – provided that one of the directors (not connected with his company) came up with a buyer who would take on the debts and carry the club forward.

A consortium bought the club – although the Bedford Blues fans did at least know who the new owners were, unlike the Hatters supporters this time around – Jefferson Lloyd International was the company that was named as the new owners.

However, nobody ever actually found out what this company even did, but a front man called Doug Braddock did come forward and claimed that coach Rudi Straeuli would leave the club “Over my dead body.”

However, in just a matter of days, the popular South African had been sacked with no apparent reason given – note the similarity between this and the sackings of Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford just days after the new owners took control of the club.

John did, eventually, come forward and amazingly claimed that Braddock had somehow managed to gain control of Bedford Rugby Club by using Jefferson Lloyd International’s name without his knowledge.

And then, in an even more bizarre twist, John tried to sell the club to the then Premiership side Coventry – this all coming after the players had not been paid.

Thankfully, the Rugby Football Union blocked the move and the town somehow managed to rally around and raise £750,000 in the space of five days and this saved the club.

Local business David Ledsom led the way and control was finally wrestled from John, who left the whole charade with a tidy net profit.

Two years after Gurney left Bedford Rugby Club, they were still feelings the effects of his time in control of the club and the now chairman Mr. Irvine said, "Will the ghost of John Gurney never go away."

John was heading the new consortium at Luton, having bought the club for £4 from Mike Watson-Challis.

However, it then emerged that Peter Miller, the man who signed the letters sacking both Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford was in fact an employee of Northampton Town Football Club – he was their commercial director.

A spokesman for Northampton Town Football Club said: "Mr. Miller is the club's current commercial director, however, he is not available to comment."

The land owned by former chairman Mike Watson-Challis at junction 10 of the M1 had also apparently been transferred to John as part of the deal.

The Football League then began an investigation into the club’s affairs, and the whole situation was not looking good for John – the whole start of his time at the club was shrouded in controversy.

John then enraged the Hatters fans even more by announcing that in a unique exercise in sport PR, the fans would have the opportunity to vote for the new manager by phoning a given number – at a cost of 50p per call.

John released a statement which read…

”In a unique exercise in sport, Luton Town’s new owners announced today that the supporters will be given the chance to vote for the club’s new manager.

Beginning next week, we will be taking nominations for people you want us to approach. Following that, we will draw up a short list and again supporters will be able to phone in their votes for their favourite from the shortlist. This will give us the final selection.

The final vote will then be taken with three groups having a say: Season Ticket-holders, all other supporters and the Board.

Season Ticket-holders will have five votes each, other supporters will have one vote each. To qualify for the additional voting rights, supporters must buy their Season Tickets by close of business next Friday June 6.” 

This news was understandably greeted with contempt by the Luton fans – they just couldn’t understand what on earth was going on at the club.

In the meantime, Peter Miller stated that he regretted signing the letters to sack Kinnear and Harford and that he would remain at Northampton Town Football Club – and wouldn’t be a part of Luton Town Football Club.

It also emerged now that John had previously owned two football clubs – both small Non-League outfits – Ashford Town and Southall – and he had allegedly left them in a financial mess.

In an attempt to win back the fans’ support, John then offered Mick Harford his job back – but Harford refused to return to his beloved club while John remained on the board.

As if all of this controversy was not enough, rumours then circulated that John wanted to change the club’s name from Luton Town Football Club to London Luton Football Club – and he later admitted it was something that he would consider doing given the proximity of the proposed new ground at Junction 10 to the airport.

John Gurney conducts at interview at the ground.

Yvonne Fletcher, the fans’ representative on the board, then resigned stating that the position had become “Untenable” and shortly afterwards, Cherry Newbery followed, as she resigned from the board and as company secretary (although she remained at the club as club secretary).  Graham Kelly had already resigned from the board prior to these resignations. 

John then released two reports – the first an initial report before he purchased the club – the second a report following 2 weeks of being in charge of the club.  The initial report claimed that John could build a Grand Prix race track around the new stadium, as well as earning the club £50 million profit a year – plus a whole host of other amazing, but highly unlikely ideas.

The second report outlined further ambitious plans for the club – and the two reports can be found HERE and HERE.

John was now conducting interviews on the local radio station, BBC Three Counties Radio, and you can hear what he had to say about his plans for the club by clicking HERE.

John then stated that he could bring Joe Kinnear back to the club as manager if – and it looked extremely likely – he won the manager vote poll.  You can hear what John had to say about this HERE.

John Gurney conducts his Q&A session on BBC 3CR.

John then conducted a question and answer session, again on BBC Three Counties Radio, and you can hear this interview HERE. 

However, amazingly, John announced that Joe Kinnear had not been voted the club’s new manager – but that ex-Hatters striker Mike Newell would be the new boss.  John claimed that the players voted for Joe Kinnear, the season ticket holders voted for Joe Kinnear, but that the board, shareholders and general fans all voted for Mike Newell. In an attempt to make the phone vote seem ‘fair’, John delayed the 1:00pm press conference in order to have a recount as the poll was, “So close.”

Unfortunately for Mike Newell, who the fans had nothing against personally, he would already be starting his new job on the wrong foot – the fans simply wanted Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford back at all costs! 

John also revealed the new chairman of Luton Town Football Club - a Mr. Tony Cooper who works in the clothing industry in London - but who never actually came forward and to this day the fans have never seen nor heard from.

John Gurney welcomes Mike Newell as new boss.

You can hear what John had to say of the appointment of Mike Newell as the new manager by clicking HERE.

John then failed to pay the players and staff on time for the second month running - and this caused even more controversy and ill-feeling at the club.  John claimed that it was "A storm in a teacup", but the players, staff and the supporters were not happy!  John therefore conducted another interview on BBC Three Counties Radio in an attempt to outline why the players and staff hadn't been paid, and what his ambitions were for the club.  You can hear that interview by clicking HERE.

After being told he must meet the Football League, John attended the meeting, but failed to give any evidence of his plans for the club, or that he had the financial backing to fulfill the club's fixtures for the forthcoming season - the 2003-04 campaign.  The Football League, obviously as concerned as the Hatters supporters, gave John two weeks to put together his plans for the club, to name the consortium and to prove that the club could indeed fulfill their fixtures.  The Football League also placed a transfer embargo on the club.

However, the two weeks passed and John attended the meeting with the Football League.  At the meeting, John failed to show any evidence of what he had been doing at the club, and also refused to name the consortium who owned the club, as well as failing to outline his plans for the club.  The Football League therefore reacted very angrily and stopped all cash injections into the club from commercial sponsorship to TV money.  They also stated that the transfer embargo remained and that they would be sending in a consortium of their own to investigate the club immediately.

It left Luton in a precarious position as the fans had already decided not to buy their season tickets on the recommendation of Trust In Luton - so the club therefore had no money coming into it.  However, on July 14th 2003, the news came that all Luton Town supporters had been hoping for - John Gurney left the club.  It had been a very uncertain time for all concerned with the club during the two months he was in charge, but the first steps to secure the future of Luton Town Football Club had been taken.

The club were placed into Administrative Receivership at the request of a creditor that was owed money by the club. It was not known which of the many possible creditors it was that had taken this step.

Administrative Receivership is different to Administration. With Administration, an administrator works for all possible creditors that exist. With Administrative Receivership, an insolvency practitioner has been appointed by one of the club's secured creditors, who is someone that has funded the club such as a private individual that has loaned funds to the club. The upshot of this was that John Gurney’s regime was no longer in control.

Announcing John Gurney's departure, the club released a statement which read...

"Luton Town Managing Director John Gurney has lost control of the football club, which has been placed into administrative receivership as a protective measure by the Club’s major creditor.

"The administrative receiver, Mr. Barry Ward, will be taking over the responsibilities of the Board of Directors with immediate effect.

"Club Secretary Cherry Newbery said: “This can only be great news for the future of our Club and I would now appeal to all supporters and commercial clients to support the Club and renew their Season Tickets, sponsorships and commercial packages safe in the knowledge that your money will benefit Luton Town Football Club.

“To this end, the Ticket Office will be open from 10am until 7pm from Tuesday July 15 until Saturday July 19 inclusive. We do expect to be inundated with supporters and would ask them to be patient with us during the next few days.

“Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept payment by credit card during this period and trust that in the circumstances everyone will understand.

“We look forward to welcoming all our supporters back to Kenilworth Road for the new season but firstly for our pre-season friendly at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday July 26. See you all there!”

Speculation had linked members of Trust in Luton to be central to the developments - although they moved to deny this. It is believed that representatives from the Trust in Luton's interim committee had been involved in discussions with various individuals at the home of the Hatters. It was understood that the group had to overcome some complex legal issues in order to take these steps.

Former chairman Mike Watson-Challis had expressed his horror at John’s actions, and may have been involved in some of the negotiations after making clear his concern. Following the Football League's compliance and advisory unit beginning their investigation at the club, John's financial director and company secretary Andrew Zimbler resigned from the board, and we were led to believe John Gurney returned to his home of Tenerife of Spain.

Surprisingly, after much disappointment on his arrival, new team manager Mike Newell did, after some 3 to 4 months in charge, manage to 'win over' the Hatters fans with his attractive style of passing football coupled with his motivation to simply "Get on with the job at hand."  Indeed it could be argued - and has often been by Luton Town fans - that despite all of the troubles during the period that John was in charge of the club, he did actually manage to find the club a pretty decent manager!

You can also find a full rundown of everything relating to the takeover of Luton Town Football Club by John and his consortium by clicking HERE.

With his time in charge of the club shrouded in controversy, John was a very unpopular figure with the Luton supporters to say the least, and his two months in charge of the club were arguably the worst times in the club's history.

In April 2008, John was declared bankrupt for allegedly failing to repay a loan and, as a result, will not be able to hold a directorship at any other clubs.

On April 7th 2008, John was declared bankrupt in the High Court having been served the papers in person in central London a few weeks before.

Trust in Luton, which was set up in response to John's tenure, welcomed the news that he would be unable to take charge at another sporting club.

Liam Day, Trust chairman, said: "It was a fraught time and briefly Luton had turned into a laughing stock with all the talk of a stadium on poles over the M1 and a racing track. If it wasn't so serious it would have been hilarious.

"The Trust was probably largely responsible for John Gurney leaving Luton Town in 2003, shortly after he took over.

"You never want to gloat on somebody else's misfortune, but you can safely say that that sort of thing was coming.

"He was always an individual who was flying close to that particular threat.

"The relief is that any other sporting teams in the country can now breathe easy knowing that potential threat has been removed and that's got to be a good thing."

A Football League spokesman confirmed that John Gurney would be barred from owning a Football Club under the 'fit and proper person' test, due to his bankruptcy.

Profile By:  James Garley