November 18 2008

Simon Jordan

Judging by a recent interview with our chairman Simon Jordan, the sooner we find an interested buyer for the club the better, says Jamesey.

I was surprised, looking idly through the business magazine shelves in my local shopping centre, to see a mugshot of Simon Jordan staring out at me from a glossy front cover, wearing his best hard-nosed entrepreneur expression.

The publication was a new launch, Ambition... Be Successful (Nov/Dec 08), and having lampooned our Simon in my last column, Aladdin (Nov 13), I was interested to see what he had to say for himself.

So, as ever, prepared to make a sacrifice for HOL, I shelled out the £3.25 cover price and had to suffer a snooty look from the young assistant which plainly signalled "What interest does a magazine like this hold for a shabby old pensioner like you?"

The interview is entitled "A man of many talents", and kicks off with a list of the alleged talents - "football club chairman, bar owner, film financier, sports writer and multi-millionaire."

As most HOL members are aware, Simon and his partner sold their business, Pocket Phone Shop to Carphone Warehouse and within 14 days Simon bought Crystal Palace FC and became the youngest ever chairman of a football league club at 32.

But he clearly wouldn't do the same thing now. "After eight years of building Crystal Palace up, Simon is now seeking a buyer for the club and a way out of the football game. 'I feel football has wasted my time,' he says."

I, for one, would question in what way he has built the club up, my gratitude for what seemed like a god-given rescue in 2000 having long evaporated. And the last thing any football club needs is a chairman who regards the game as a waste of his time.

The interview continues: "There is certainly more to Simon than spending Saturday afternoons on a football pitch signing cheques." If only he had done in the recent past!

Simon's company Aspiration Holdings is an umbrella for his other outfits Aspiration Media, Aspiration Property and Aspiration Ventures, and the article goes on to eulogise about his adventures as a TV drama producer, stage show financier and film impresario.

The compliments come thick and fast and the interview drools over Simon's Observer column having been hailed as a "benchmark in sports journalism".

Well, well. Looking back at Simon's efforts on the chairman's page in our match programme and the semiliterate, unpunctuated ramblings contained therein, I would have to regard the Observer column as a benchmark in rewriting and sub-editing. And I was in the game for 40 years.

Interestingly, Simon reveals that he has a new goal, to be a good father to his nine-month-old Cameron. "I'm not the most important person in my life any more". I have nagging doubts about that statement.

The interview concludes with the statement that the managing director of Aspiration Holdings has now turned 40. My invitation to the birthday bash must have got lost in the post.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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