Quick Facts
Biography
Stan Seymour Jr. was a former chairman of Newcastle United and the son of Stan Seymour Sr.
Seymour, Jr.'s father played for Newcastle United and then joined the board of directors after the Second World War. He was also manager of the club with the Directors Committee from 1938–58 during three spells and at the helm when they won the FA Cup in 1951 and 1952.
On behalf of his father's success, Seymour Jr. went on to the board of directors. By 1981 Newcastle United were heavily in debt, crowds were at an all-time low and the future looked very bleak. Arthur Cox had been brought in as manager but was having a tough time with the cash-strapped club, which was stuck in the second division under the unpopular chairmanship of Bob Rutherford, who was widely seen as being a puppet for the previous chairman, long-serving director Lord Westwood. Early in that year, the directors came up with a plan whereby they would donate £13,000 each to the club in order to get it out of debt. However, Westwood refused to go along with the plan and resigned from the board. This left Rutherford without any allies, and the remaining board members unanimously demanded that he resign, which he did.
In March 1981, after a board reshuffle, Seymour Jr. emerged as the new chairman and immediately addressed United's shambolic finances. The first move was to slap an immediate spending freeze on manager Arthur Cox, at the same time shutting out a possible takeover bid by ambitious millionaire Ernie Clay.
Then, in August 1982, Newcastle United announced a coup which astounded the footballing world, the first arrival of the player Kevin Keegan on Tyneside. Geordies went crazy when the then England skipper flew into Newcastle Airport. Keegan's £100,000 transfer fee from Southampton, which was found thanks to the help of Newcastle Breweries, transformed Arthur Cox's team into a winning formula, one that eventually took the club back to the First Division. In deals which eventually brought spending to £275,000 Keegan, Terry McDermott and David McCreery all arrived on Tyneside. With Peter Beardsley and Chris Waddle complementing Keegan as the Newcastle United spearhead, crowds in the ground reached an average of 30,000.
United gained promotion in 1984 with Keegan retiring after the last match of the season and Arthur Cox resigning amid a contract row. Newcastle United now struggled on with a succession of managers, including Jack Charlton. Eventually the boardroom revolution steered by Sir John Hall removed Seymour Jr. from his position as chairman. He eventually became president of the club.
He died in 1992 at Birmingham after attending a Newcastle United fixture, which they won.