Jack Hayward

For other people named Hayward, see Hayward (disambiguation).

Sir Jack Arnold Hayward OBE (born June 14, 1923 in Wolverhampton) is an English property developer and philanthropist.

Biography

Hayward was educated at Northaw Preparatory School and Stowe School in Buckingham. In 1941, during the Second World War, he joined the Royal Air Force, receiving flight training in Clewiston, Florida. He served as an Officer Pilot in the Royal Air Force 671 Squadron S.E. Asia Command and in 1946 was demobilised as a Flight Lieutenant.

His father, Sir Charles Hayward CBE, began the family involvement with the Bahamas in the 1950s, after relocating his business from the United States. Sir Jack arrived in Grand Bahama in 1956, and became a Vice President of The Grand Bahama Port Authority which helped promote the development of Freeport. Sir Jack took over his father's interests in the Bahamas, and continues to this day to play a role in developments in Freeport - where the Jack Hayward High School is named after him.

The 2007 Sunday Times Rich List placed him as Britain's 438th richest with an estimated £160million fortune.

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Hayward became the owner and chairman of his boyhood football team Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. after buying the club in May 1990 for £2.1million. At this time, they were in the Football League Second Division. At this time, the club was recovering from one of the most dramatic declines endured by any English football club. In 1980, Wolves had been sixth in the First Division, but by 1986 a hat-trick of successive relegations had dragged them into the Fourth Division. By the time of Hayward's takeover, Wolves had recently achieved a promotion "double" that had seen them reach the Second Division.

Some have estimated that he has spent £60m of his personal fortune on redeveloping their Molineux Stadium, and players for the club during the 17 years for which he was owner - more moderate figures appear to run from £20m to £40m.

Hayward's first season as chairman saw Wolves being one of the hardest teams to beat in their division, but a habit of drawing games prevented them from reaching the playoffs. In 1991, a major rebuilding programme began at Molineux, and by December 1993 Hayward had paid for the reconstruction of three of Molineux's four stands - transforming it into one of the most impressive grounds in England with an all-seater capacity of more than 28,000. Despite this, Wolves were still in Division One (which had been the Second Division until the formation of the Premier League in 1992) and hadn't yet even qualified for the playoffs. In March 1994, Hayward decided that it was time for a change and axed long-serving manager Graham Turner in favour of former England manager Graham Taylor.

After Taylor's appointment, Wolves spent vast sums of money on several big names, and in 1995 they qualified for the playoffs, only to be ousted by Bolton Wanderers in the semi-finals. Wolves started the season slowly, and Taylor quit due to growing supporter pressure the following November, with Wolves 19th in Division One. Hayward brought in Mark McGhee as his successor, and the following season Wolves finished third in Division One, but lost again in the playoff semi-finals - this time to Barnsley. The following year, they missed out on the playoffs but did reach the FA Cup semi-finals, losing to eventual winners Arsenal. Hayward terminated McGhee's contract the following November, and replacement Colin Lee lasted two years (narrowly missing out on the playoffs both times) before being succeeded by Dave Jones. Jones almost achieved promotion in 2002, only for Wolves to be pipped to automatic promotion by local rivals West Bromwich Albion and eliminated from the playoffs by Norwich City. A year later, they achieved promotion by beating Sheffield United 3-0 in a thrilling playoff final triumph at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. But Wolves stayed in the top flight for just one season, and later that year Hayward decided to sack Jones and replace him with Glenn Hoddle. Wolves became famously hard to beat under Hoddle, but they drew too many games and this saw them miss out on the playoffs for two successive seasons. Hoddle then quit in the 2006 close season and Hayward brought in Mick McCarthy as his successor. At this time, Wolves had one the weakest squads in the Football League Championship, but still managed to finish fifth and qualify for the playoffs - where they lost to West Bromwich Albion in the semi-finals.

In May 2007, it was announced that he has sold control of Wolverhampton Wanderers to businessman Steve Morgan for a nominal £10 fee, in exchange for the promise of £30m of investment in the club. Hayward had originally offered the club for sale in September 2003, but had struggled to find suitable takers. Morgan's takeover was formally completed on August 9, 2007.

Sir Jack's 17-year ownership had been relatively successful, but on taking the club over he had hoped to re-establish them as one of England's leading club sides. In the event, they only spent one season in the top flight. He had enabled Wolves to invest in players who would normally have been beyond the financial reach of many non-Premier League clubs.

Some of these had been successful. Ade Akinbiyi, signed from Bristol City in 1999, quickly established himself a first class goalscorer, only to move after one season to Leicester City, where he was less successful. Another high profile goalscorer to sign for Wolves was David Kelly, who was among Division One's top scorers in 1992-93 with 25 goals for champions Newcastle United. Kelly had made a surprise decision to miss out on Premier League football to join an ambitious Wolves side, and was reasonably successful at Wolves before his surprise transfer to Sunderland two years later. Wolves bought defensive midfielder Stephen Froggatt from Aston Villa in 1994, and despite a series of injuries he performed fairly well until joining Coventry City four years later.

Some of Hayward's big money buys were less successful. Robert Taylor, a million-pound striker signed from Manchester City in 2000, was hit by injuries and bad form, which meant that he played just nine games in two seasons. During his time at the Molineux he was loaned out to three different clubs before having his contract terminated. In early 1994, Hayward had splashed out a quarter of a million pounds on Darren Ferguson, son of Alex Ferguson, who had recently collected collected a Premier League title medal with Manchester United and was showing promise of becoming a top class midfielder. Ferguson failed to live up to expectations at Molineux, and five years later moved down a division to Wrexham. Another unsuccessful big money player was the Georgian striker Temuri Ketsbaia, signed from Newcastle United for nearly £1million. Ketsbaia had played for Newcastle in the Champions League and helped them reach two FA Cup finals, but at Wolves he managed just 24 appearances and a mere 3 goals in over a year, finally moving to Scotland where he turned out for Dundee.

By the time he left Molineux, Hayward was recognised as one of a select group of football benefactors who had spent huge fortunes of money on rescuing their hometown club from obscurity. Other benefactors in this group including Jack Walker (Blackburn Rovers), Lionel Pickering (Derby County) and Steve Gibson (Middlesbrough.

Sir Jack remains the life president of Wolves.

Charity

Hayward was knighted in 1986 - adding to his 1968 OBE award - for his charitable actions, having previously donated money to buy Lundy Island (for the National Trust), the SS Great Britain and, more recently, £500,000 to the Vulcan to the Sky fund.

Family

Hayward married Jean Mary Forder in 1948 and has two sons, Rick and Jonathan, and a daughter Susan. Both his sons have also been involved with Wolves. Jonathan joined the board upon Sir Jack's takeover in 1990 and later served as chairman, before resigning in 1997. In 1999, his father controversially sued him for £237,000, claiming he was responsible for financial irregularities. The matter was settled out of court in favour of Sir Jack. His elder son Rick later became chairman of the club in 2003, taking over from Sir Jack himself, but stepped down in 2006. His grandson Rupert joined the board in the reshuffle following Steve Morgan's takeover.