Roy Gardner (businessman)

Sir Roy Alan Gardner (born 20 August 1945) is a British businessman and former director of Manchester United and most recently Plymouth Argyle. Gardner is notable for his involvement in the sale of Manchester United to American businessman Malcolm Glazer and his controversial spell as chairman of Plymouth Argyle, which resulted in the club entering administration with debts of over £17 million and accusations of financial mismanagement.

Born in Brentford, he was the eldest son of a carpenter, Roy Thomas Gardner, and his wife Iris Joan (née Paine) and was brought up in Middlesex and Surrey in humble surroundings. He initially wanted to be a professional footballer, and supported Manchester United from the age of 8. He went to Strode's School (a grammar school, and became Strode's College in 1975) in Surrey. In the holidays he worked at Wall's.

Gardner started his career at the British Aircraft Corporation through their accounting apprentice scheme, working in the Commercial Aircraft Division from 1963 to 1975. He joined the Marconi Company Ltd in 1975. From 1979 to 1985, he was Group Finance Director of the Marconi Space and Defence part of the company. From January 1986 he was the Finance Director of Standard Telephones and Cables (STC plc). He became managing director of STC Communication Systems. Nortel took over STC in 1991 and he became chief operating officer of Northern Telecom Europe. He then became managing director of GEC Marconi Ltd, succeeding from 1992 to 1994.

Gardner joined British Gas in November 1994 as Executive Director, Finance and was involved in splitting the company into two parts. He was the Chief Executive of Centrica plc from February 1997 (when it first formed when British Gas demerged) until October 2005. Under his leadership, Centrica bought the AA. He was replaced by Sam Laidlaw. During his time with Centrica, he was listed in the Harvard Business Review’s Best-Performing CEOs in the World.

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