Terry Brown (football chairman)
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Terence "Terry" Brown is the former chairman of English Premier League football club West Ham United F.C.
He has been a member of the club's board since 1990 and chairman since May 1992, but the club's relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2002-03 season, and subsequent failure to return the following year resulted in a massive drop in popularity with the club's fans.
Little is publicly known of the elusive chairman. He has only been a public figure since accusations of mismanagement forced him to respond in public.
In the late 1990s he supported Harry Redknapp through a moderately successful run in the Premier League, however the players that Redknapp signed at this time were to prove too expensive for the club to maintain. He also sold quality players like Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard Jr. to rival clubs. The money from these sales was allegedly either spent by the club elsewhere (for example, on a new stand for the stadium), or on low standard players. There remains some doubt as to the legitimacy of some of these transfers.
In 2001, he appointed coach Glenn Roeder as the club's manager despite opposition from fans, who felt that an experienced manager was required. After a successful first season (finishing 7th in the Premier League), the form of West Ham dropped significantly and they were relegated the following season. Brown took no action against this drop of form except to sack Roeder as manager in the season following relegation.
Alan Pardew was the eventual replacement to Roeder, following a brief spell in charge by Trevor Brooking as caretaker manager. Now in the Football League Championship, the club was seen as a prime candidate for automatic promotion, a feat achieved by finishing in the top two in the league. Since the fans were expecting the club's automatic promotion, the fourth placing at the end of the 2003-04 season was seen as a poor result. This was compounded by a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the playoff final. The following season, the club again qualified for a playoff place, this time by finishing sixth in the league. They defeated Preston North End in the final, easing some of the criticism levelled at Brown and Pardew.
Critics claim that Brown did not release funds for new players and has shown indecisiveness and a lack of foresight in sacking and appointing managers. Despite his claims after relegation that there would be no 'fire sale' of players, the club has had forced sales of very talented and valuable players to pay off financial debts. Critics say that Brown oversaw the club's decline from an average but self-supporting Premiership club, to a mediocre Championship club, and the sale of a large number of quality players. For this reason, he is the subject of a 'Brown Out' campaign by the supporters, but has so far refused to step down unless an 'Abramovich-type figure' (that is, an extremely wealthy businessman such as Roman Abramovich) makes an offer for the club.
Brown received extreme criticism from a supporter's pressure group Whistle and commenced legal action towards its members. During 2004, two of the members submitted public apologies. West Ham's official website announced during the 2003-04 season that a settlement with the group had been achieved.
The club gained promotion in 2004-05 and the minimum increase in revenue, relative to the amount it would have received in the Championship, was estimated at £30m (£18m from TV rights for season 2005/06 plus £6m for the subsequest two seasons should the club not remain in the Premier League). Brown, claiming that he did not want to repeat the mistakes made in the recent past, made a £20m budget available in May 2005 for the 2005-06 Premier League season. He was re-elected as director in October 2005, approved by a vote of 14,461,566 shares in favour and 371 against.
