John Elsom (born 10 August 1939) is an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

former football chairman and club director who is currently the club president of

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

. He is the former chairman of

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and has served on the board of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and is a member of the Football Association (FA) Council.

Business

Elsom was the former chairman of the Page and Moy Travel group.

Football

Leicester City

Elsom was chairman of Leicester City F.C. from 1998 until mid-2002. During his tenure as chairman the club finished in mid-table in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, took part in the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and 2000 League Cup Finals, and competed in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. He also gave them a new stadium, the 32,000-seat

Walkers Stadium King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...

, which opened for the 2002-03 season as a replacement for 111-year-old

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

. However, his chairmanship of the club came to an end after the 2001-02 season when the Foxes had been relegated from the Premier League and were more than £30million in debt.

Grimsby Town

He was co-opted onto the board of directors of Grimsby Town Football Club in December 2002. Elsom stepped down and retired from his role 8 August 2013 and in turn was appointed club president.

Personal life

Elsom's family come from

Brigg, North Lincolnshire Brigg ( /'brɪg/) is a market town in North Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 5,076 in the 2001 UK census, the population increased to 5,626 at the 2011 census. The town lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east–west tran ...

References

1939 births Living people Leicester City F.C. directors and chairmen English football chairmen and investors Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff {{England-footy-bio-stub