Simon Jordan

Simon Jordan (born 24 September 1967, Thornton Heath, United Kingdom) is the chairman and owner of Crystal Palace Football Club, a football club who are, as of the 2006-2007 season, in the Championship, the second level of English football.

Early life

At 15, Simon joined Palace and then Chelsea on schoolboy forms, but his career never took off, and Chelsea released him when he was sixteen. Jordan has described himself as being "lazy", and has described himself as being "good enough to be a professional, but mentally I wasn't interested. You often get players who have bags of talent, but not the required application. I was one of them.". All this happened whilst he was at Purley High School for Boys in Old Coulsdon.

In 1994, Simon and Andrew Briggs set up their own mobile phone retail company called the Pocket Phone Shop. They started with £30,000 and a 3,500 sq ft unit in Slough, and after forming an agreement with service provider Astec, the business flourished.

By 2000, the Pocket Phone Shop had 167 outlets nationwide, employed 660 staff and was forecasting a turnover of £52m for the 1999/00 financial year. Pocket Phone Shop was seen as one of the main rivals in its sector to leader The Carphone Warehouse - the organisation that Jordan and Briggs both worked for before launching their own venture.

At its peak the Pocket Phone Shop enlisted the services of Ulrika Jonsson to promote its new store openings, but the relationship turned sour when Jordan sued Jonsson claiming she had not fulfilled her promotional activities. It is unknown what the outcome of this action was.

Despite the Pocket Phone Shop venture being successful, Jordan's first forays into the mobile phone business were not.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s he was invited by a friend, James Wright, to join him in his business, Wright Connections, selling mobiles via adverts placed in the Loot and Exchange and Mart. Jordan and Wright rented an office from Delta 5, another mobile phone dealer, and the business lasted for a short time before changing its name to Corporate Cellular Ltd (CCL). This business was not considered to be a great success either and Jordan left sometime during the early 1990s, presumably to work for the Carphone Warehouse. There are also various reports that he went to live in America during this time.

Buying Palace

Jordan and Briggs left Pocket Phone Shop in 2000 after selling the company to One2One for £73m. That year, Singapore financier Jerry Lim bought Crystal Palace Football Club, a club that had been hours from extinction, from the administrators, and immediately sold the club to Jordan, aged 32. Jordan immediately appointed himself chairman, making him the youngest chairman of a Football League club. Having been born "100 yards from the ground" Jordan had been a life long fan, and he noted "I have achieved exactly what I set out to do, and that is to be Chairman of Crystal Palace. I have been prepared to put my money into something I truly believe in, and my first job is to turn the fortunes of this club around." Jordan also vowed that the club would be promoted to the Premiership, within five years. However, despite owning the club, Jordan did not own the ground. That belonged to Ron Noades, who had been chairman until 1998. It was the sale of the club from Noades to Mark Goldberg that eventually led to the club going into administration, and therefore it was natural that Jordan appeared not to have much time for Noades.

As well as not having a lot of time for people such as Noades, it also seemed that Jordan was short on patience, and he soon gained a reputation as a manager-killer, and between 2000 and 2003 no fewer than the following five managers departed the manager's post: Steve Coppell (August 2000), Alan Smith (April 2001), Steve Bruce (November 2001), Trevor Francis (April 2003), and Steve Kember (November 2003). Of these, only Coppell and Bruce left of their own accord, with Coppell's departure brought about by a personality clash and Bruce's resignation leading to a high court case.

Iain Dowie was appointed in December 2003 and the club bounded up the table from the relegation zone to win promotion in May 2004, fulfilling Jordan's promise of promotion within five years. In 2004-05 the club were hot favourites for relegation, and, following a poor start, this seemed likely. However, following a run of excellent form, it looked like the club might defy all odds and survive. Ultimately, this was not the case, and Palace were relegated on the last day of the 2004-05 season following a draw with Charlton. In May 2006, having accepted he and Jordan had differences but the same goal, Dowie left the club by mutual consent. However, towards the end of the month Dowie joined South Londons biggest football clubCharlton Athletic as their new manager, prompting Jordan to issue a legal writ against him, claiming Dowie had lied about his reasons for departure.

Jordan worked in conjunction with Director of Football Bob Dowie (brother of Iain) to find a new manager. Possible names mentioned included former Newcastle manager Graeme Souness, Hull City (and former England) coach Peter Taylor (who had a three-year spell at Palace during the 1970s and was even picked for England, despite playing in the Third Division), Mike Newell of Luton Town, and even former Internazionale and A.C. Milan coach Alberto Zaccheroni as candidates to take up the vacant post.

The list was narrowed to two (believed to be Taylor and Newell), and the man was got on 13 June 2006, when Taylor was appointed manager.

Following this, in October of that year, Jordan gave supporters an announcement that had been eagerly awaited since he took over, that on 6 October, he had purchased the freehold to Selhurst Park from Ron Noades for £12m, using an investment mechanism that kept his identity secret. He claimed the obfuscation had been necessary due to the "very, very difficult" relationship he has with Noades. Palace are now seen to be safe for the future.

During his time as Palace chairman, Jordan has also helped to set up a USA Academy, which is known as Crystal Palace F.C. USA, and has supported former Palace captain Geoff Thomas in his work to raise money for first Leukaemia Research and then his own charity, "The Geoff Thomas Foundation". Jordan appeared for a "Geoff Thomas Foundation Charity XI" in the first ever match at the new Wembley Stadium, against a team of celebrities, scoring the second goal in a 2-0 win after Mark Bright had opened the scoring.

Career as a columnist

As of the 2005-06 season, Jordan writes a fortnightly column for The Observer newspaper alongside journalist David Hills, with his column of Sunday September 18, 2005 leading to him being charged by the Football Association with bringing the game into disrepute. The case was heard on December 7 2005 with a charge of improper conduct proven. Jordan was given a suspended fine of £10,000. But, backed by other journalists and by media advisor Max Clifford, Jordan indicated his intention to appeal, stating "I didn't start this fight, but it's not something I'm going to walk away from."

His appeal was heard on the 10th of April, and was rejected by the three member panel two votes to one. Jordan commented in his 16 March column in The Observer that he and his advisors were "now considering taking this through the courts. Any legal action I take won't be about wasting time or resources on a petty point of principle - it'd be an attempt to see the whole thing unravel." Jordan also used the column to highlight the inconsistencies in the F.A. disciplinary panel. On Tuesday the same panel decided no disciplinary action would be taken against Paul Jewell, manager of Wigan, who had been charged on the basis of making comments similar to Jordan's. Jordan described the compliance process as being "based on mood", noting: "There's no frame of reference, no consistency - and, yes, it's personal. It amounts to me not being able to say a referee is incompetent while others can, using the same language." Jordan, Simon (16 April 2006). "Shameless angst of papers who promote gambling". The Observer.

Whilst awaiting the outcome of the appeal, it appeared as though the events were having an effect upon him, as on 26 February 2006 it was reported by The News of the World newspaper that Jordan was tired of being chairman, and wanted to go back to being a regular fan. He has since reported in his March 5 2006 Observer column that he was misquoted and that he had simply restated what he had said eight months before, that "I don't plan to stay at Palace or in football all my life. I'd like to return to the stands 'as quickly as possible', but I won't sell until I've secured a sound legacy - Premiership football and a new ground"

Jordan did not continue writing for the Observer in the 2006-07 season.

Television work

Aside from appearances in football-related programmes, Jordan's first major TV appearance was in early 2007, appearing in Fortune: Million Pound Giveaway for ITV along with fellow millionaires the Ann Summers managing director Jacqueline Gold (daughter of Birmingham City chairman David Gold, a personal enemy of Jordan's); entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne; MOBO Awards founder Kanya King; and former Conservative Member of Parliament-turned-novelist Jeffrey Archer.

Charlie Brooker, a Guardian journalist wrote:

"On the panel are Duncan Bannatyne (who I quite like), Jeffrey Archer (who I don't), two women who look the same, and Simon Jordan - who performs a mind-boggling miracle each week by coming across as a bigger, smugger arsehole than Archer. He looks like a cross between Gérard Depardieu and a thick waiter, and is one of those people you instinctively dislike the moment you clap eyes on them, presumably thanks to some weird, primordial twat-detector lurking in the evolutionary backwaters of the brain. Consequently, everything he says and does fills you with revulsion. Everything. Last week he raised an eyebrow and I vomited blood for an hour."

Personal life

It was reported by The Mirror newspaper's website in January 2006 that Jordan had bought girlfriend Meg Matthews (former wife of Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher) a Porsche worth £100,000 for Christmas, along with a personalised number plate, and that the couple had been together since July 2005.

However Jordan gave details of the ending of this relationship in March 2006, admitting that it had been Matthews who had ended the relationship, while attacking The News of the World newspaper, which had reported that Jordan had 'ditched Matthews' the week before. Jordan wrote of the matter in his Observer column, "the piece belittled someone who has been very important to me over the last nine months."

In June 2006 it was reported that Jordan's ex-girlfriend Tara Stout, 36, posed in a Union Jack bikini and high heels, then put on tiny shorts and a revealing top to face Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London over a case re Jordan. The pair also faced each other in court in October of that year, when Stout was found guilty of harassing Jordan.

After her return from the ITV's Celebrity Love Island, it was reported in the Sunday Mirror's showbiz section "Radar" in September 2006 that model Sophie Anderton was dating Jordan In a bizarre twist of fate, Jordan used to go out with Sarah Bosnich, the ex-wife of Sophie's former flame Mark Bosnich.

Jordan currently resides in Marbella , Spain, regularly flying back to the UK.