William Westwood, 2nd Baron Westwood (25 December 1907 – 8 November 1991) was a British peer, director of

Hornby Railways Hornby Railways is a British rail transport modelling, model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was pr ...

and former chairman of

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Biography

Westwood inherited his father's title and estate, on his father's death in 1953. After losing one of his eyes in a car accident in 1956, he always wore an eye patch. Westwood became a director of Newcastle United in 1960 and became chairman in 1963. He was chairman when the team won the 1969

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

. He became president 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 ...

in 1974, went on to be vice-chairman of

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

and also served on the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

professional committee. He had a sharp wit and was a regular after dinner speaker. Lord-Westwood

released a model Hall Class Locomotive in 1973 called ''Lord Westwood''. In 1977, six leading players threatened resign from the club. Having claimed that both he and the team manager,

Richard Dinnis Richard R. Dinnis (born 11 December 1942) is an English former football coach and player. Dinnis played semi-professionally as a centre-half. Little is known of his playing career, but he signed with Bishop Auckland in 1961 after a successful t ...

, had been "knifed in the back", Westwood stopped all staff from talking to the press. After a string of defeats, culminating in a loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

St James Park St James Park and variants may refer to: Municipalities * St James Park, New Zealand, a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand Football stadiums * St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * St James Park (Exeter), Exeter, England * St James Park, g ...

, fans called for his resignation with shouts of ''Westwood out''. There was fighting in the streets and there were 10 arrests. He stood down as chairman in January 1978. In 1981, each director of Newcastle United were asked to put up a £16,000 guarantee in favour of the bank to help the club's financial position. Westwood had lost money in the collapse of DCM, Europe's leading toy company, of which he was also chairman; he refused to provide the guarantee and resigned from the board completely. Westwood died on 8 November 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, William Westwood, 1st Baron 1907 births 1991 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Newcastle United F.C. directors and chairmen Presidents of the English Football League Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Place of birth missing