Gunnar Þór Gíslason is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic businessman who was the chairman of

Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

between November 1999 and May 2006. At the time he was the youngest chairman in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

Chairman of Stoke City

In November 1999 Gunnar Þór Gíslason led an Icelandic consortium of businessman to take over English football club Stoke City from

Peter Coates Peter Coates (born 13 January 1938) is an English businessman, the co-founder of bet365, and the chairman of Stoke City Football Club. He has been listed as the 25th-richest person in British football. He founded Stadia Catering in the 1960s an ...

. He appointed his own choice of manager,

Guðjón Þórðarson Guðjón Þórðarson (; born 14 September 1955) is an Icelandic footballer manager and former player. He has previously been manager of Iceland, Icelandic clubs ÍA, KA, KR, Keflavík, BÍ/Bolungarvík and Grindavík, English clubs Notts Co ...

who led to club to the Division One in 2002. But he was sacked by Gíslason after a contract dispute.

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

was appointed but quickly left and

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...

was given the role to keep Stoke in the second tier. He succeeded but after a poor 2004–05 season Pulis was sacked for "failing to exploit the foreign transfer market" and in his place came Dutch manager

Johan Boskamp Johannes "Johan/Jan" Boskamp (born 21 October 1948) is a Dutch former football player and manager. He played the majority of his career for hometown club Feyenoord and Belgian side RWDM and managed primarily in the Belgian leagues. Currently he ...

. He was in charge for just a season and in May 2006 Gíslason resigned as chairman of Stoke City, selling control of the club back to Peter Coates who re-appointed Tony Pulis.'Chairman Gislason departs Stoke', BBC Sport, 22 May 2006
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gislason, Gunnar 21st-century Icelandic businesspeople Living people Stoke City F.C. directors and chairmen Year of birth missing (living people)