Christian Purslow
Christian Purslow (born 14 December 1963) is a British businessman who is the chief executive officer of the Premier League club Aston Villa Football Club. He was the co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners and was the former managing director of Liverpool Football Club and the former managing director and head of global commercial activities at Chelsea Football Club.[1]
Christian Purslow | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 December 1963 United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge Harvard University |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Co-founder MidOcean Partners Former managing director of Liverpool F.C. Former head of global commercial activities at Chelsea F.C. CEO of Aston Villa F.C. |
Early life
After attending Aylesbury Grammar School, he went on to graduate with a degree in modern and medieval languages at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.[2] He later earned an MBA at Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar, finishing in the top five percent of his class.[3][4]
Career
Purslow trained as an analyst with L.E.K. Consulting, before joining the Burton Group as executive assistant to the CEO. After becoming head of new business development for Reuters, he joined Credit Suisse First Boston as head of UK mergers and acquisitions. He then joined Schroders Salomon Smith Barney as head of cable, media and entertainment investment, before becoming managing director of DB Capital Partners. It was while in this position, that DB Capital Partners was spun-out, in which he became managing director of new private equity firm, MidOcean Partners.[3]
Liverpool F.C.
Purslow was appointed managing director of Liverpool Football Club in June 2009, with a priority to renegotiate the £350m loan the club had outstanding with RBS and to assume overall management of the club until a new permanent CEO could be appointed.[5][6] Three months into his tenure, a team headed by Purslow negotiated an £80 million 4-year shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank.[7]
On 6 October 2010, Purslow voted in favour of the sale of the club from the unpopular then-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett to the NESV group. In response to this, Hicks tried to block the sale by removing Purslow and Ian Ayre from the board and installing his son, Mack, and his business associate Lori McCutcheon to the board. On 13 October 2010, at a hearing in the High Court in London, Mr Justice Floyd held that Hicks’ actions were unlawful and in breach of the agreement he had signed with RBS.[8] Floyd's judgment allowed the sale to proceed and, on 15 October 2010, NESV finally completed its £300m takeover of Liverpool in a deal which drastically reduced the club's debt to RBS.[9]
Having completed his brief by finding a buyer, Purslow stepped down on 20 October 2010 after NESV assumed control of the club.[10] He remained as a non-executive director and special adviser until February 2011.[11]
Following the sale, Hicks and Gillett pursued legal action, however, a settlement was reached in January 2013 with Hicks and Gillett withdrawing all allegations made against Purslow and fellow directors Broughton and Ayre.[12]
Chelsea F.C.
On 27 October 2014, it was announced that Purslow had joined Chelsea Football Club as "Head of Global Commercial Activities" with immediate effect.[13] Purslow oversaw a number of deals (including Yokohama,[14][15] Wipro[16] and Carabao[17][18]) and the club's £900m kit deal with Nike, a deal described by the BBC's Dan Roan as a "remarkable ... coup"[19][non-primary source needed]
It was announced on 17 February 2017 that Purslow would be leaving Chelsea at the end of the 2017–18 season.[20]
Aston Villa F.C.
On 31 August 2018, Purslow was appointed as the CEO of Aston Villa Football Club[21] taking over the club in season 2018-19, the club's third consecutive season in the Championship. The club were promoted via the play offs[22] under manager Dean Smith, who Purslow had appointed in October 2018.[23]
Purslow appointed Steven Gerrard as manager in November 2021, having previously worked with Gerrard at Liverpool.[24]
In July 2022 Purslow was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aston University.[25]
References
- ^ "Chelsea statement | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club".
- ^ Optima, Fitzwilliam College Newsletter 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine Spring 2010 p.19
- ^ a b "Biography on MidOcean Partner Website".
- ^ "Why I Decided to Rethink Hiring Smart People". Harvard Business Review. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ Kelso, Paul (22 June 2009). . Independent. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
- ^ "LFC appoints Managing Director - Liverpool FC". Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
- ^ Parsons, Russel (14 September 2009). "Liverpool looks to Standard Chartered to help global expansion". Marketing Week. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
- ^ "Liverpool takeover: High Court rule in favour of RBS and against Tom Hicks". The Daily Telegraph. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ^ "New owner John W Henry determined to revive Liverpool". BBC Sport. 16 October 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
- ^ "Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow quits job". BBC Sport. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
- ^ BBC Sport – Christian Purslow relinquishes Liverpool posts
- ^ . LiverpoolFC.com. 11 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ "Ex-Liverpool chief joins Chelsea". BBC Sport.
- ^ "Chelsea seal £200m shirt sponsorship deal with Yokohama Rubber". The Guardian. 26 February 2015.
- ^ "Yokohama Rubber to become Official Shirt Partner". Chelsea FC. 26 February 2015.
- ^ "New digital and IT partnership launched". Chelsea F.C.
- ^ "Chelsea partners with Carabao". Chelsea F.C.
- ^ PCL., Post Publishing. "Carabao seek growth from Chelsea sponsorship". Bangkok Post.
- ^ "Dan Roan – Twitter". Twitter. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- ^ "Christian Purslow moves on".
- ^ "Aston Villa appoint former Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow". The Guardian. 31 August 2018.
- ^ "Playoff final: Aston Villa promoted to the Premier League". BBC. 28 May 2019.
- ^ "CEO Christian Purslow: why we appointed Dean Smith". AVFC. 15 October 2018.
- ^ "Steven Gerrard to Aston Villa has been 12 years in the making for Christian Purslow". The Independent. 11 November 2021.
- ^ "Aston Villa CEO receives honorary degree from Aston University". Aston University. 19 July 2022.