Leon Crouch (16 August 1949 – 13 September 2019) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

businessman, who was formerly chairman of Southampton Football Club. Crouch was the founder and chairman of the "Fullers Group" of companies which specialise in the manufacture, inspection and supply of precision engineered products, including machined components, fabrications, assemblies, kit sets and cold formed products for the telecommunications, medical, oil, defence, space, and marine industries. Crouch was a lifelong

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

fan and paid more than £1.6 million to purchase a significant stake in the club in 2006. He was acting chairman of Southampton until he was removed by the board in July 2007, but was re-appointed in December 2007, following Michael Wilde’s departure. Crouch was again forced to resign his position on 15 May 2008, when major shareholders, including Wilde and

Rupert Lowe Rupert James Graham Lowe (born 31 October 1957) is a British politician, farmer and businessman, who served as a the Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the West Midlands constituency from 2019 to 2020. Lowe was chairman ...

called an EGM requiring his removal. Whilst chairman of the club, Crouch paid personally for the replacement bronze statue of Saints legend Ted Bates which is now sited outside Southampton's

St Mary's Stadium St Mary's Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Southampton, England, which has been the home stadium of Premier League club Southampton F.C. since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest football stadium ...

It was claimed by a representative of a Southampton Supporter's Club on Sky Sports News in late May 2009, that the only reason for Southampton's continued existence as a business was due to Leon Crouch putting money into the club "out of the goodness of his own heart". He died on 13 September 2019 following a battle with cancer. Following his death, in November 2019 Crouch was awarded the Forever Saint Award, with his daughter collecting the accolade.

References

1949 births 2019 deaths Southampton F.C. directors and chairmen 20th-century English businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-1940s-stub