Ray Ranson
Personal information
Full name Raymond Ranson[1]
Date of birth (1960-06-12) 12 June 1960[1]
Place of birth St Helens,[1] England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1976–1978 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1984 Manchester City 184 (1)
1984–1988 Birmingham City 137 (0)
1988–1993 Newcastle United 83 (1)
1993 Manchester City 17 (0)
1993–1995 Reading 24 (0)
Total 445 (2)
International career
1979–1982 England U21 11 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Raymond Ranson (born 12 June 1960) is an English sports financing and insurance entrepreneur and a former professional footballer.

Playing career

Born in St Helens, Merseyside, Ranson's professional football career began in 1976 when he was signed as an apprentice by Manchester City. Typically playing as a defender at right full-back, he made his senior debut in a 0–0 draw against Nottingham Forest on 23 December 1978.[3]

Over a 17-year career between 1978 and 1995, Ranson amassed 445 professional league appearances Manchester City, Newcastle United, Birmingham City and Reading. Ranson also represented England at various levels including schoolboy, youth and the England national under-21 football team.[4]

Ranson was part of the Manchester City team that reached the 1981 FA Cup final. It was the centenary edition of The Football Association Challenge Cup, the leading annual knockout competition in men's domestic English football.[5]

Ranson was captain of the England team that won the 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, sealing a 5-4 aggregate victory over West Germany in the finals.[6]

In November 1984 Ranson signed with Birmingham City. He was a part of the squad that won promotion to the First Division in 1985, and would make 137 first team appearances for the club over four years.[7]

In 1988, Ranson joined Newcastle United, making 83 league appearances for the club.[8]

Ranson returned to Manchester City midway through the 1992–93 FA Premier League campaign. He would make another 17 appearances for the first team, bringing his total to 233 for the club.

Ranson joined Reading in the summer of 1993. He made 24 appearances for the club, before retiring from playing professional football in 1995.

Business career

Ranson started his second career in sports finance and insurance while still playing football professionally. In 1990, he formed an insurance broker that created the first ever personal accident scheme for the Professional Footballers' Association, the union for all current and former footballers across the English Football Leagues.[9]

[10] After ending his professional playing career in 1995, Ranson formed a joint venture with The Benfield Group, which later became Benfield Greig, an independent reinsurance and risk intermediary company founded by Chelsea director Matthew Harding.[10] While at the company, Ranson developed a range of innovative sports contingency and personal accident insurance products for the professional sports industry. Ranson departed Benfield Greig shortly before the organization listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2003.[11]

In 1998, Ranson became an advisor to Registered European Football Finance, a Guernsey-based captive insurance company with institutional backers including Barclays.[12] The company funded more than £150 million of football player transfers for professional clubs on a sale and leaseback basis, managing the principal and interest payments on a quarterly basis over a player's contract duration.[13][14][15]

In 2004, Ranson formed Prozone Sports Ltd, a market-leading performance analysis platform that supplied analytics to prominent professional clubs including F.C. Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool F.C. and Arsenal F.C. Ranson sold the business to Sport Universal Process in 2011 for an undisclosed sum before it eventually became a part of STATS Perform.[16]

In the same year, Ranson formed a consortium that made an unsuccessful £30 million bid for Aston Villa.[17] Ranson made a second offer in 2005, this time for £45 million, which was also rejected.[18]

In 2006, Ranson formed Sports Asset Management, an asset management firm that provided access to professional sports-related investments, including stakes of professional players' contracts and specialty insurance against career-ending injuries.[19][20]

In April 2007, Ranson submitted an undisclosed bid to acquire Manchester City F.C., the first team he had played for professionally in 1978.[21] Ranson would withdraw the offer after failing to reach an agreement with the club's board of directors.[22]

In October 2007, Ranson led a £40 million offer to take over Southampton F.C. on behalf of SISU Capital, an investment management company.[23] The directors of Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, the club's parent company, voted 5–2 in favor of accepting the deal, until the proposals were rejected by three major shareholders.[24]

In December 2007, Ranson completed a deal to take over Coventry City F.C. on behalf of SISU Capital, which saved the club from entering administration and incurring a 10-point deduction. As part of the transaction, Ranson was installed as Coventry City's new chairman. SISU Capital also signed a cooperation agreement with Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), owners of the Ricoh Arena, that would allow Coventry City to continue using the stadium as their home ground.[25] Ranson would step down from the role in 2011, with former Southampton chairman Ken Dulieu replacing him.[26]

In 2015, Ranson and launched the London Sport Exchange, an online marketplace designed to connect alternative investors with professional sports-related investment and opportunities. Ranson opened the site to institutional investors in 2017 before selling the platform to private equity investors in 2019.[27][28]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ray Ranson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  2. ↑ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ↑ "Ray Ranson – Manchester City". Football Heroes. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
  4. ↑ Clayton, David (2002). Everything under the blue moon: the complete book of Manchester City FC – and more!. Edinburgh: Mainstream publishing. ISBN 1-84018-687-9.
  5. ↑ "FA Cup special: 1981 Manchester City XI in focus". Manchester Evening News. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  6. ↑ Turner, Andy (7 October 2009). "Ray Ranson wants big crowd for England Under-21s game". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  7. ↑ Wood, Mike Meehall. "Meet The Man Who Almost Bought Rangers – And Moved Them to the Premier League". Forbes. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Ray Ranson – Newcastle United". Football Heroes. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
  9. ↑ "Football: Ranson the visionary finally steps into spotlight". The Guardian. 13 February 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  10. 1 2 Demetriou, Danielle (29 October 2003). "Profile: Ray Ranson". The Independent. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  11. ↑ Bounds, Andy (19 February 2017). "Former star looks to kick-start football finance deals for masses". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  12. ↑ Szymanski, Stefan (2015). Money and Football: A Soccernomics Guide. Nation Books. p. 141. ISBN 9781568585260.
  13. ↑ Handbook on the economics of sport. Wladimir Andreff, Stefan Szymanski. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. 2006. ISBN 1-84376-608-6. OCLC 60669162.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. ↑ "Could Aston Villa soon be benefiting from the business skills of former Man City star Ranson?". Professional Footballers' Association. 6 July 2005. Archived from the original on 28 May 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
  15. ↑ "Special investigation: crisis at Leeds United". The Guardian. 7 March 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  16. ↑ Turner, Andy (23 June 2011). "£5m Prozone sale saved Coventry City from administration". CoventryLive. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  17. ↑ "Villa reject Ranson takeover bid". BBC Sport. 1 September 2005. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
  18. ↑ Kendrick, Mat (26 June 2005). "Ranson's new £45m Villa bid". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  19. ↑ "Two hedge funds to bet on soccer". Los Angeles Times. 31 October 2006. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  20. ↑ Mills, Ryan (30 October 2006). "Hedge funds lured to potential of football profits". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  21. ↑ "Ranson bids to take over Man City". BBC Sport. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  22. ↑ "Ranson withdraws Man City offer". BBC Sport. 30 May 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  23. ↑ "No Saints board seat for Ranson". BBC Sport. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2007.
  24. ↑ "Coventry City's fingers caught in Sisu sliding door that Saints dodged | Daniel Taylor". The Guardian. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  25. ↑ "Coventry saved by late takeover". BBC Sport. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
  26. ↑ "Ranson set to quit Coventry role". 24 March 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  27. ↑ Duff, Alex (10 May 2015). "Former Manchester City Defender Starting Sports Finance Exchange". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  28. ↑ "Former Man City Defender Ray Ranson Starts Sports Finance Exchange". Sports Business Journal. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
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