John Lawrence Radford (born 1965) is an English businessman and owner of Mansfield Town Football Club, which he bought in 2010. __FORCETOC__

Mansfield Town

In 2010, Radford invested into Mansfield Town from then-owners Steve Hymas, Steve Middleton and chairman Andy Saunders, purchasing the club for £1. The club's ground

Field Mill Field Mill, currently known as One Call Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Football pitch, football ground in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, and the home of Mansfield Town F.C., Mansfield Town Football Club. It is the oldest ground in ...

(known as One Call Stadium for sponsorship purposes) remained in ownership of Keith Haslam until Radford's purchase in 2012. Then a

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

side, Radford promised to return them to 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 ...

, which was achieved in 2013. Radford created controversy by appointing his then-girlfriend Carolyn Still, whom he later married, to the position of Chief Executive Officer at the football club in September 2011. When buying, Radford had pledged to invest £500,000 into the club; his investment, however, was higher at an estimated £100,000 per month. He had already given the club £250,000 to save it from

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

. In February 2013, following an 8-1 win for Mansfield against Barrow, Radford donated an

Aston Martin DB9 The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer produced by Aston Martin. Available both in coupé and a convertible bodystyles, the latter being known as the Volante, the DB9 was the successor to the DB7. It was first shown at the 2003 Frankfurt Aut ...

car valued at £80,000 to manager Paul Cox as a reward. Radford had wanted to reward Cox for improving on the previous season when they had beaten Barrow, 7-0. Cox departed in November 2014 by "mutual consent".

Hotel projects

In early 2018, Radford announced a business proposal to establish a six-floor hotel at the club's stadium, in conjunction with an international brand. No formal planning application had been submitted to

Mansfield District Council Mansfield District is a local government district in Nottinghamshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Mansfield. The district is bounded by the districts of Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood and Gedling, as well as the Derbyshire distr ...

at the time of discussions at the club's ground,A third hotel could be in the pipeline for a Notts town
''

Nottingham Post The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The ''Post'' is p ...

'', 28 January 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018 but a later application was authorised by the council in July 2018. Radford announced his intention to proceed with a hotel project after his previous plan to build on the town's old bus station in mid-2017 was unsuccessful, with the local council choosing another developer as 'preferred bidder'.Stags confirm plans for 108-bed hotel in Mansfield
''Chad'', 3 November 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radford, John 1965 births Living people English businesspeople English football chairmen and investors People from Mansfield