Sam Longson

Sam Longson (11 April 1900 – 17 January 1989) was a British businessman and chairman of Derby County F.C. Longson founded a road haulage business in Chapel-en-le-Frith that became the largest in Derbyshire.

Sam Longson was born into a farming family near Chapel-en-le-Frith in the High Peak district of Derbyshire on 11 April 1900.

He established a haulage company initially using horse-drawn barges on canals, then with steam-powered traction engines and lastly with road lorries.

His firm, Sam Longson Limited, was based in Chapel-en-le-Frith and carried lime for Imperial Chemical Industries.

Longson joined the board of directors of Derby County in 1952 and became the chairman in December 1965.

Longson joined the board of Derby County F.C. on 1 June 1955 and became chairman on 3 December 1965, at which point the manager was Tim Ward.

He sold the company by 1967 and also built and sold a hire purchase business.

He was instrumental in the appointment of Brian Clough as Derby County manager in May 1967, under whose leadership the club won the league title in May 1972.

Clough helped win support to Longson as Chairman after he briefly lost the position.

The company amassed the largest road-haulage fleet in Derbyshire before its sale, in or shortly before 1967, to Thomas Tilling.

Longson also owned a hire purchase company that he sold to the financial services company Leslie and Godwin.

Longson refused to renew Ward's contract, which expired after five years in May 1967.

Ward had failed to achieve promotion from the Football League Second Division and Longson considered him "too much of a gentleman" to make a success of the job.

While considering who to approach for the Derby County job Longson received a phone call from Len Shackleton, the former England player, who was then a football reporter in North East England.

Shackleton recommended that Longson offer the job to Brian Clough, who was then manager of Fourth Division club Hartlepools United.

Although he preferred candidates with more managerial experience and from better-placed clubs Longson recalled Clough's playing as an active director of other players when he visited the Baseball Ground as part of the Sunderland team.

Longson met with Clough at the Scotch Corner hotel, having travelled from Derby in his Rolls-Royce with three other directors.

Some of the directors considered Clough too "big-headed" for the role but Longson came away from the meeting with a good impression, considering Clough's style a welcome contrast from Ward's more withdrawn personality.

Clough, unusually for the period, had an assistant manager, Peter Taylor and it was agreed both would join Derby.

Longson, who had recently sold his haulage business, agreed to a £5,000 annual salary for Clough and made available £70,000 to fund player transfers.

The pair took over officially on 1 June 1967.

Derby under Clough were successful, achieving promotion to the First Division in 1969 and winning the league in 1972.

Longson lost the chairmanship for part of this period to Sydney Bradley but, with Clough's support, regained it in 1970 when three directors were forced to resign after the Football Association (FA) imposed a £10,000 fine and a one-year ban from European competition for financial irregularities.

In the first years of Clough's managerial reign, he and Longson had a close relationship, and Longson initially viewed Clough almost as a son.

However, the pair had fallings out over Clough's decisions to hire a secretary and agree transfers for Colin Todd (from Sunderland in February 1971 for £175,000) and Roger Davies (from Worcester City in the same year for £14,000).

When Clough's initial contract ran out in 1972 negotiations to extend it overran and almost resulted in him leaving Derby, though an agreement was reached by the end of the year.

Clough's drinking became problematic and there were arguments at the start of the 1972–73 season when the board of directors emptied and locked the club's drinks cabinet.

Longson was forced to apologise to the club's fans after Clough publicly insulted them after a September game against Liverpool.

There were also disputes over Clough's frequent media appearances.

Longson was initially supportive of Clough's approach, thinking the publicity was good for the club but later changed his mind.

When Longson visited other football clubs he was taunted with questions asking who really ran Derby County, him or Clough.

Longson made a demand that Clough send him copies of his newspaper columns before they were published; Clough was outraged.

Clough wanted to eject Longson as chairman but failed to win sufficient support from the rest of the board.

Clough accepted an additional presenting role on ITV that Longson complained was negatively affecting his performance as manager.

Clough and Taylor sent in their resignations four days later, expecting that Longson would back down but he didn't.

Longson's relationship with Clough broke down in 1973 and he accepted Clough's resignation after a disagreement over the manager's media appearances.

Longson appointed Dave Mackay to succeed Clough and the club won the league title again in 1975.

Longson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1977 New Year Honours.

Later that year he disagreed with some directors on the board who advocated for the return of Clough as manager.

Longson resigned as chairman on 24 February, though he remained as club president and was a director until 6 May 1980.