Nicholas Higgs is a former businessman and previous chairman of Bristol Rovers Football Club, and a former chief executive of Cowlin Construction, a company now owned by Balfour Beatty.
Higgs stepped down as chief executive of Cowlin following its sale for £52 million in cash to Balfour Beatty in August 2007, at which point he was vice-chairman of Bristol Rovers. [1] He became chairman of the football club twelve months later, in August 2008, when he replaced Ron Craig. [2]
On 19 February 2016, during a press conference to announce the takeover of Bristol Rovers by the Jordanian Al-Qadi family, Higgs announced that he would be stepping down as chairman of the club with immediate effect with his majority shareholding included in the sale. Former Swansea Chairman Steve Hamer was appointed in his place. [3] [4]
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The club's home colours are red and white, and their nickname is The Robins—a robin featured on the club's badge from 1976 to 1994 and from 2019 onwards. Their main rivals are Bristol Rovers, with whom they contest the Bristol derby, and Cardiff City, with whom they contest the cross-border Severnside derby.
Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club's official nickname is "The Pirates", reflecting the maritime history of Bristol. The local nickname of the club is "The Gas", derived from the gasworks next to their former home, Eastville Stadium. Since 1996, the club has played home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield.
Bristol Bears are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The Memorial Stadium, also commonly known by its previous name of the Memorial Ground, is a sports ground in Bristol, England, and is the home of Bristol Rovers F.C. It opened in 1921, dedicated to the memory of local rugby union players killed during the First World War, and was the home of Bristol Rugby club until they moved to Ashton Gate in 2014.
Balfour Beatty plc is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works across the UK, US and Hong Kong.
Charles Lamb Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, is a British businessman, broadcaster, and chairman of THG plc, Global Radio, 2 Sisters Food Group, ISS and Advisory chairman at Moelis & Company. Lord Allen was chief executive of Granada Group from 1996 to 2000, executive chairman of Granada Media plc from 2000 to 2004, chief executive of ITV plc from its formation in 2004 until 2007, and chairman of the music company EMI. He was chairman of Endemol, a non-executive director of Tesco plc and Virgin Media. In March 2012, he was appointed by Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, to the position of chairman of the executive board of the party. He has been chairman of the British Red Cross.
Sean Michael O'Driscoll is a former professional footballer and manager. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, Doncaster Rovers, Crawley Town, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Walsall. He was known by the nickname "Noisy" in his playing days at Fulham. He represented the Republic of Ireland as a player.
The 2007–08 season covers the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008. It marks the 125th year of football played by Bristol Rovers F.C. and their 81st season in The Football League. The team plays in Football League One having won the Football League Two playoff game at Wembley Stadium on 26 May 2007, beating Shrewsbury 3–1 in front of a crowd of 61,589.
Stuart Taylor was an English professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent his entire professional playing career at Bristol Rovers and holds the club record for most league appearances by any player, with 546 league games played in his fifteen years at the club.
During 2008 and 2009, Bristol Rovers Football Club participated in League One, The 2008–09 season covers the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. It marks the 126th year of football played by Bristol Rovers F.C. and their 82nd season in The Football League.
Paul Alexander Coutts is a Scottish footballer who plays for Highland League club Inverurie Loco Works.
Garry Cook is a British sports executive. He is the current CEO of Birmingham City F.C., the club he supported as a child. He worked for Manchester City between 2008 and 2011 and Nike between 1996 and 2008 and for UFC between 2012 and 2016.
Ron Craig was the chairman of Bristol Rovers Football Club for sixteen months between April 2007 and August 2008, and spent 23 years on the board of directors.
UWE Stadium was a proposed 21,700 all-seater stadium to be built in Cheswick, South Gloucestershire, as a new home for Bristol Rovers. The stadium was to replace their current home, the Memorial Stadium. Sainsbury's agreed to buy the Memorial Stadium in 2011 and lease it to the club while the new stadium was built to the north of the city.
Stephen Thompson is a Scottish businessman, who was the chairman of Scottish football club Dundee United. He is the son of former United chairman Eddie Thompson, who died of prostate cancer in October 2008. Stephen Thompson then succeeded to the chair of Dundee United, a position he held until March 2018.
Colin Sexstone was a former Chairman of Bristol City Football Club and recently a Non-executive Director at Plymouth Argyle. Sexstone joined the board of directors of Bristol Rovers FC in Sept 2015.
Philip S. Aiken is an Australian business executive.
The 2015–16 season was the 133rd season in Bristol Rovers' history and their 88th in the Football League. Rovers returned to the Football League after an absence of just one season following their promotion from the Conference Premier via the play-offs.
Steve Hamer is a former chairman of both Swansea City and Bristol Rovers football clubs. He held the position at Bristol Rovers from February 2016 until November 2019, having previously been chairman of Swansea from 1997 to 2000.
Wael Abdulkader Al-Qadi is a Jordanian football executive, best known as the current club president of English club Bristol Rovers and a member of the Al-Qadi family.