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Plymouth owner is careful with his money

Plymouth Argyle chairman Simon Hallett is profiled in this week's Football League Paper.  He's put £15m into the Pilgrims but emphasises that he is not the traditional club chairman who phones up the manager to complain about his selections.   'I am very much hands off,' he says.

The 66-year old lives 3,500 miles away but gets over to his Devon home three or four months a year, his visits tied into watching Argyle.   Plymouth is his emotional home where his family moved in 1966 when he got a job as a mechanical engineer.   He went to school in Plymouth before Oxford University.  His fortune comes from data analytics as chief investment officer for £60bn American company Harding Loevner.

He joined Plymouth as a director in 2016 and now owns 97 per cent of the table topping club.  He emphasises the importance of data analytics in play recruitment: 'I'm from an investment background and understand the importance of data in making decisions.  I'm not saying player recruitment is entirely based on that and there will always be some judgement involved and we have some good scouts.'

He said that the £15m he put is a lot to him, he is not a billionaire, but he can afford it.  'At the moment we've got very large cash reserves (£6m in the bank) which will tide us over from where we are, still loss making, towards break even.'

'I could afford to put more money in but I don't want to.  I don't think it's the best way to run a club.  You don't want a football club that is reliant on even a well-meaning benefactor like me.  The club is not getting any more so it does have to become sustainable.'


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