Q & A With Dan McCauley

Plymouth Vital continues its occasional series of interviews with Argyle personalities with an exclusive Question and Answer session with former chairman Dan McCauley.

Dan was Argyle chairman during the 1990’s and presided over three relegations and one promotion before leaving the club in 2001. With Dan as chairman times at Home Park were certainly eventful with threats of closing the club, public fall-outs with manager Peter Shilton and arguments with the fans and the local press.
However, Dan did provide the cash to allow Shilton to build one of the most expensive and exciting Argyle teams ever seen at Home Park, his input of personal funds also paid the running costs and wages and kept the club afloat during difficult times.

Dan is a regular on The Times Rich List, with his main source of wealth coming from his Rotolok Holdings company; he also has business interests in Sutton Harbour Holdings and is the owner of Drakes Island.

In this exclusive interview Dan talks about his time at Argyle, the managers he hired and fired and he gives us his thoughts on the current affairs at Home Park.

Q: What would be your greatest achievement from your time at Argyle?
DM: My greatest achievement was raising sufficient funds to build the three sides of Home Park.

Q: If you could change anything about your time at Home Park, what would you pick?
DM: To slow down the money output to control the pressures of managers trying to buy success.

Q: What was your most memorable Argyle match?
DM: The Wembley visit to get promotion from Division Three by beating Darlington.

Q: When was the last time you visited Home Park?
DM: Unfortunately, although the Board treated me admirably on my departure by allocating my wife and I match tickets and seats in the Directors Box it obviously was not quite the same and after 3-4 months I gave back the benefits.

Q: Who was the best and worst manager during your time at Argyle?
DM: I only comment on the high-profile managers i.e. those with money needs. Peter Shilton had too many personal problems which did not allow him to focus adequately on the team, whereas Neil Warnock was politically motivated and his aim, in my opinion, was to play the newspapers and council against me.

I fought my corner to keep the stadium under the clubs control and not succumb to a Council owned ground which would have brought limitations as to when we had access to the ground.
The best manager by far was Paul Sturrock.

Q: In hindsight, do you think Argyle would have avoided relegation from Division One if David Kemp had remained as manager?
DM: You have to remember, when I joined the club I had only 50% ownership and obviously I had to listen to my co-directors wishes and persevered with David Kemp as long as possible but in the end succumbed to a Board decision.
I had an enormous amount of respect for David Kemp and whether he could have saved us is difficult to say.

Q: Have you ever been approached to return to the Argyle boardroom?
DM: No.

Q: Would you have bought the freehold of Home Park if the chance had been offered when you were in charge?
DM: Definitely. In fact, I offered the Council more than the Board, although I was not involved with the club at that time.

Q: How much would you value the club at now?
DM: I look at Preston North End to judge the value of the club, bearing in mind Preston is a real footballing hot-bed with a tremendous record in the past.
On the stock market today’s value of Preston is £3.3 million which includes a fully developed ground.

Q: What do you think of the way the club has been run in the last few years?
DM: The Club was running well during and after my departure as I left at the end of January 2001 when they were doing well.

Q: Do you think the club has a chance of making it to the Premiership in the next few years?
DM: Unlikely, but who knows, it will need a great deal of money from the Board of Directors.

Q: You have business interests all around the world now; does that take up most of your time these days?
DM: Over the last year things have been hectic with overseas visits and I am trying to grow my companies to penetrate greater market share.

Q: Finally, thank you for taking part in this interview; do you have a message for all the Argyle fans?
DM: Football clubs need supporters in greater numbers and the only way forward is for fans to back the club week-in week-out so that the Board can guarantee an income and ensure the budget can be relied on.

We can all see in football clubs where the managers have pressed for money that they do not always succeed and then leave the club in a mess, all due to the Chairman also wanting success and therefore giving in to the constant high demands. Southampton and Portsmouth have one common denominator but I am not mentioning who!

Thank you to Dan for taking part in this interview and also a thank you to Mrs McCauley.

Financial proceeds generated by this website are donated to the Plymouth Argyle Disabled Supporters Association.