Matthew Charles Harding (26 December 1953 – 22 October 1996) was a British businessman, vice-chairman of

Chelsea Football Club Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. The ...

and a major financial supporter of

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

Early years and education

Harding was born in

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, the son of Paul Harding, an insurance executive. He attended

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

Abingdon-on-Thames Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historic counties of England, Historically the ...

from 1964 until 1971. He was a member of the badminton first team, for which he was awarded half-colours, in addition to being a cricket first XI player, captain of the colts cricket team and a member of the hockey second XI. Although he enjoyed the sport, he did not enjoy the school ethos, earning a single 'A' Level in Latin. In June 1995, he was appointed a "Steward" of

and presented the awards at "Leavers' Day". He also donated £500,000 towards the school's "Mercers Court", a new IT centre where one of the rooms was named ”The Matthew Harding Careers Room" in his honour after his particular interest in offering career's advice to the students. He returned to the school just weeks before his death to speak to a small group of sixth formers about his road to success.

Career

He left school and went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Through his father's friendship with Ted Benfield, he joined the insurance brokers Benfield, Lovick & Rees and it was in the insurance industry that he made his fortune, starting out by making the tea and going on to be a director. By 1980, he had acquired a 32% stake in the company, becoming one of Britain's 100 richest men.

Chelsea FC

Chelsea 2 Bolton Wanderers 1 (15165243508)

A lifelong fan of

, Harding responded to Chelsea chairman

Ken Bates Kenneth William Bates (born 4 December 1931) is a British businessman, football executive and hotelier. He was involved in the development of Wembley Stadium and is the former owner and chairman of football clubs Chelsea and Leeds United. Bates ...

' call for new investment in the club in 1993. In October 1993, he was appointed as a

director. He invested £26.5 million in the club, including £7.5m towards construction of the North Stand (now the Matthew Harding Stand), £16.5m to buy the

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

freehold and transfer funds. However, his time there was marked by frequent clashes with Bates, club chairman and majority

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

, over the direction to be taken by the club. Bates eventually banned Harding from the Chelsea boardroom and effectively limited his input and influence over the club. The dispute between Bates and Harding was continual and was only stopped after Harding's death in 1996. Bates caused more controversy and upset many Chelsea fans, as well as friends and family of Harding, by calling him "an evil man" just a year after his death.

Death

On 22 October 1996, while flying back from a Chelsea match at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, the helicopter Matthew Harding was travelling on crashed near

Middlewich Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, east of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, killing Harding along with the pilot and three other passengers, including journalist

John Bauldie John Bauldie (23 August 1949 – 22 October 1996) was a British journalist, noted as one of the foremost experts on the work of Bob Dylan. He was editor of the Dylan fanzine ''The Telegraph'', and was also on the launch staff of '' Q'' magazine. ...

. He was 42. The crash of the

Eurocopter AS355 Écureuil 2 The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS355 Écureuil 2 (or Twin Squirrel) is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed and originally manufactured by Aérospatiale in France The Écureuil 2 was directly derived from the single-engined ...

aircraft took place at night and in poor weather. An investigation by the

Air Accidents Investigation Branch The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA) ...

found that the pilot did not have the experience or qualifications necessary to safely pilot by instruments in such conditions.

Personal life

His son Patrick Harding went on to become a semi-professional footballer who plays for

Burgess Hill Town F.C. Burgess Hill Town Football Club is an English football club currently playing in the . The club plays its home games at the More Than Tyres Stadium (Leylands Park) in Burgess Hill, West Sussex. History Burgess Hill Football Club was founded in ...

References

Sources

* ''Matthew Harding: Pursuing the Dream'' by

Alyson Rudd Alyson Rudd (born 1967) is a British journalist with The Times who writes about sport, mainly football, and literature in the book club section. She was born in Liverpool in 1963 and grew up in rural Lancashire. She is a graduate of the London ...

Mainstream Publishing (16 October 1997) * ''A Question of Honour'' by

Lord Michael Levy Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, (born 11 July 1944) is a Labour Party peer. He is a former chartered accountant and was chairman and CEO of a large independent group of music companies. He now acts as a consultant for a number of companies a ...

Simon & Schuster (12 May 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Matthew 1953 births 1996 deaths People educated at Abingdon School Chelsea F.C. chairmen and investors English football chairmen and investors Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents People from Haywards Heath Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in England Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1996 20th-century English businesspeople