Sam Longson was a British businessman and chairman of Derby County FC Longson founded a road haulage business in Chapel-en-le-Frith that became the largest in Derbyshire.
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34 Facts About Sam Longson
1.
2.
Sam Longson sold the company by 1967 and built and sold a hire purchase business.
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3.
Sam Longson was key in bringing Brian Clough to Derby as manager in May 1967, under whose leadership the club won the league in 1972.
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4.
Sam Longson appointed Dave Mackay to succeed Clough and the club won the league again in 1975.
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5.
Sam Longson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1977 New Year Honours.
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6.
Sam Longson resigned as chairman on 24 February, though he remained as club president and was a director until May 1980.
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7.
Sam Longson was born into a farming family near Chapel-en-le-Frith in the High Peak district of Derbyshire.
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8.
Sam Longson established a haulage company initially using horse-drawn barges on canals, then with steam-powered traction engines and lastly with road lorries.
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9.
Sam Longson amassed the largest road-haulage fleet in Derbyshire before its sale, in or shortly before 1967, to Thomas Tilling.
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10.
Sam Longson owned a hire purchase company that he sold to the financial services company Leslie and Godwin.
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11.
Sam Longson joined the board of Derby County FC in 1952 and became chairman in 1966, at which point the manager was Tim Ward.
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12.
Sam Longson refused to renew Ward's contract, which expired after five years in May 1967.
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13.
Ward had failed to achieve promotion from the Football League Second Division and Sam Longson considered him "too much of a gentleman" to make a success of the job.
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14.
Shackleton recommended that Sam Longson offer the job to Brian Clough, who was then manager of Fourth Division club Hartlepools United.
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15.
Sam Longson met with Clough at the Scotch Corner hotel, having travelled from Derby in his Rolls-Royce with three other directors.
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16.
Some directors considered Clough too "big-headed" for the role but Sam Longson came away from the meeting with a good impression, considering Clough's style a welcome contrast from Ward's more withdrawn personality.
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17.
Sam 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.
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18.
Sam Longson lost the chairmanship for part of this period to Sydney Bradley but, with Clough's support, regained it when three directors were forced to resign after the Football Association imposed a £10,000 fine and a one-year ban from European competition for financial irregularities.
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19.
Sam Longson had a close relationship with Clough and initially viewed him almost as a son.
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20.
Sam Longson was initially supportive of Clough's approach, thinking the publicity was good for the club but later changed his mind.
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21.
When Sam Longson visited other football clubs he was taunted with questions asking who really ran Derby County, him or Clough.
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22.
Sam Longson made a demand that Clough send him copies of his newspaper columns before they were published; Clough was outraged.
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23.
Clough accepted an additional presenting role on ITV that Sam Longson complained was negatively affecting his performance as manager.
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24.
Taylor later recalled that Sam Longson left him and Clough waiting outside his office when he called them in to discuss their resignation letters.
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25.
When Sam Longson called them in he accepted their resignations and told them they would receive no compensation from the club.
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26.
When leaving Taylor was called back and Sam Longson offered him the manager's job, which Taylor refused on principle.
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27.
Residents moved their dining tables to their front windows to keep an eye on the comings and goings and Sam Longson stayed in a nearby hotel, from where he gave impromptu press conferences while dressed in his pyjamas.
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28.
Sam Longson had the club's trainer Jimmy Gordon act as manager in the first games following Clough's departure.
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29.
Taylor recalls Clough received huge applause from the crowd that Sam Longson attempted to upstage by waving his arms from the director's box.
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30.
Sam Longson appointed former player Dave Mackay as Clough's permanent replacement.
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31.
Sam Longson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1977 New Year Honours, by which time he was Derby's club president.
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32.
Sam Longson left partway through the meeting and would be replaced as chairman by Hardy.
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33.
Sam Longson resigned from the Derby County board in May 1980 and died in Buxton on 17 January 1989.
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34.
Sam Longson was portrayed by Jim Broadbent in the 2009 film The Damned United, a fictional account of Clough's departure from Derby and his brief stint as manager of Leeds United.
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