Ron Noades

Ron Noades (22 June 1937 – 24 December 2013) was an English businessman, best known for his investments in football clubs. He was the chairman of Southall, Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and finally Brentford.

Football

Southall

The first club owned by Noades was non-league Southall.

Wimbledon

Noades then took over Wimbledon, who were elected to the Football League in 1977. They won promotion from the Fourth Division in only their second season as a Football League club, although they were relegated after just one season. He then entered tentative talks with the Milton Keynes Development Corporation with a view to relocating the club to the new town some 70 miles away in Buckinghamshire, but nothing came of this. Ironically, Wimbledon would ultimately be relocated to Milton Keynes more than 20 years later.

Noades remained chairman of Wimbledon until 1981, when the club won a second promotion to the Third Division. Just before departing, he appointed Dave Bassett as manager - a move which would bring the club great success. Although their second spell in the Third Division only lasted one season, they earned an instant return and eventually reached the First Division in 1986, where they finished sixth in their first season before Bassett stepped down. Wimbledon would survive in the top division of English football until 2000, winning the FA Cup in 1988.