John Batchelor (racing) - Football

Football

Batchelor became the owner and chairman of York City on 15 March 2002 after buying the club from Douglas Craig; he was reported to have paid £4.5 million for the club, although it was later revealed he bought it for £1. After taking over the club, he said he had two sites in mind for a new 15,000-seated ground. He revealed an interest in buying ITV Digital in May, which he later admitted was unlikely to succeed. He changed the club's name from York City Football Club to York City Soccer Club, in an attempt to appeal to United States markets. Also, Batchelor's racing brand was incorporated into other parts of the club; the official badge had a chequered flag brought into it, as did the first team kit, which had a racing style print on one sleeve. He promised to buy York's Bootham Crescent ground, give the Supporters Trust 24% of the club's shares and invite two supporters onto the board, but none of these were fulfilled. It was reported that Batchelor received some death threats in regards to way he was handling the club. York went into administration on 18 December and he tried to purchase the club, but the Supporters Trust eventually bought the club on 26 March 2003. Following his time at York, Batchelor said "I did nothing wrong" and "I tried hard to make it work as a business". He was later investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry after pressure from supporters. Batchelor made a profit of over £300,000 from his association with York and while the club was enduring financial difficulties he bought a house for £250,000.

Batchelor spent a month in hospital in late 2006 for alcoholism. He was a part of James Derry's bid to buy Mansfield Town in March 2008, but eventually launched his own bid to buy the club. He revealed plans to rename the club "Harchester United", after the fictional team in the Sky series Dream Team. This was called "absolutely bizarre" by Mansfield mayor Tony Egginton, who was later appointed as the club's non-executive chairman, which put doubt on Batchelor's takeover bid. He was later revealed to have had a £1.5 million bid for Accrington Stanley turned down by chairman Eric Whalley, which proposed moving a newly formed "Lancashire United" to Leigh and building a 10,000 seater stadium. He held talks with Chester City chairman Stephen Vaughan about purchasing the club in November. Batchelor fronted a consortium that made a £12.5 million bid to buy Southampton in July 2009. He was disqualified from acting as a company director for seven years from 2010 after he allowed two of his companies, Moornate Chemists Limited and The Besglos Polish Company Limited, to enter transactions to the benefit of connected companies and himself and to the detriment of their creditors.

He was a Burnley supporter and a season ticket holder at Turf Moor.