Charlie Amer

Redwurzel

Well-known member
I am interested in how Charlie Amer became so successful and why it suddenly went wrong.

I have just read Gazette and Northern Echo articles about him. He didn't appear to inherit any money coming from an ordinary background from Grangetown. From running a band, working as a Redcoat, and putting on entertainment events, then he bought a major hotel in Redcar and then built the Marton Country Club becoming a MFC Director in 1963 and Chairman in 1973. He had quite a Business Empire as I know from family friends in the past he owned Parkway Estates and Parkway homes as well as hotels and even garages (Rema was Amer spelt backgrounds). Building 1000 houses such as Cricket Lane in Normanby. His houses were generally good quality and his hotels in 1960s and 70s were well regarded.

He helped Big Jack develop the Boro team and get them established as a top 10 club. Then it all seemed to go wrong with the building of the Ayresome Sports Hall by his own company. It didn't have the right planning permission and bits just did not function correctly. The MFC board appeared to start encouraging players to leave such as Craig Johnson (in his recent radio interview), David Armstrong and Mark Proctor as so John Neal the manager left too. Charlie Amer says it was not his fault, but he was Chairman. The mistakes in the summer of 1981 seem to lead to Administration in 1986.

The mystery to me is that Charlie Amer was obviously an excellent businessman, so why did all these problems occur from 1978 to 1981. After 1981 his businesses seem to wind down even though he lived till 2012.
 
I remember my dad telling me he was really happy when Charlie Amer became chairman in the early 70's as he was making all the right noises
Ironically he wanted big Jack to spend money available to strengthen & push us on but Jack reluctantantly did as if the money were his, yet a few seasons later when John Neal was building a fast, exciting team & some of his players were getting rave reviews with bids forthcoming the board, with Amer as chairman, could see £ signs & :the rest as they say is history
 
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There was story that did the rounds (probably false) that he got compo for an accident on a bus, and put it to good use. Hardly The Great Gatsby though and not a scandal.
He was a governor of the school I went to. I remember the lime-green Roller parked outside.
 
Mixed up his building empire with his Boro interests, made some shady dealings and attempted to asset strip the club,as you say a businessman. That was my memory of it
 
I think the story that he was a bus conductor who got compy in the 1950s after an accident and set up in business and with a band, is actually true. I remember my mam telling me that in the 70s.

He had fingers in many diverse pies; a big band, guest houses then later hotels like the Marton Country Club and the York in Redcar, he had a building company and garage, Rema Motors, for many years.

Jack Charlton told me that Amer certainly was not tight and offered him money to strengthen the Boro team many times but Jack was too mean.

The main reason why people turned against him, surely, was the gymnasium/sports centre debacle in the late 70s. He built a gym/sports centre and function suite all for public use, on the back of the north stand at Ayresome Park; it was built by his own construction company. It never opened to the public because it was built in contravention of building regulations. It reportedly cost a lot of money which many felt could have been used to build the team instead.
 
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Remember that 81/82 season under Bobby Murdoch when he had had the heart of the team sold out from under him. One match someone on the South Terrace shouted "where the hell is the midfield?", a voice came back "Liverpool, Southampton & Nottingham Forest". :(
My dad always reckoned Amer was a crook who was siphoning money out of the club into his own pockets.
 
Met him once in the Marton Country Club when I had to go in there for something in the early 90s. It was an afternoon and he was there holding court, being all "hail fellow, well met", calling me "young man" etc to his cronies. Tbh I took an instant dislike to him. Won't say anymore, I'm sure he has family still in the area who might be reading this.
 
Remember that 81/82 season under Bobby Murdoch when he had had the heart of the team sold out from under him. One match someone on the South Terrace shouted "where the hell is the midfield?", a voice came back "Liverpool, Southampton & Nottingham Forest". :(
My dad always reckoned Amer was a crook who was siphoning money out of the club into his own pockets.
There were many rumours about him being crooked. There was once an article about him in the Gazette which was headlined “I’ve never conned anybody in my life. - Amer” My brother cut it out and carried it around in his wallet for if he ever needed a laugh.
 
Cheers E74 for your comments

MFC had traditionally not had to sell its best assets - I am sure offers came in for John Hickton in the late 60s/early 70s, but they were never accepted. Big John was seen as the best Division 2 striker for a few years. Usually transfers were balanced, if anything they spent a little more then they got in.

Transfers 1977 to 1979 - my estimates

Souness was a record fee between English teams £350k

David Mills was a British record fee £500k

About £850k incoming for those 2 plus Boam £135k and Cummins £150k

outgoings

Ashcroft £135k
Mahoney £90k
Cochrane £210k
Burns £90k
Nattress £375k
Bosco £100k
Stewart £90k

Transfer fees were about balanced from 1977 to 1979. 1980 was quiet alot of young players had come through namely Craig Johnson, Proctor, Hodgson, Bailey.

E74 senior was probably right about the Directors seeing cash in 1981. I still think that b***** sports centre has something to do it with it. Of course the 1981 cash was generally wasted except for Eine Otto.
 
Was also introduced to him as a youth in the country club. He was impressed by my height and asked if I played football😳.
Nothing negative to report from that meeting.
 
His business empire seems to have gone with him. Maybe he lost interest after 1982 and he became older and people were angry with him. The Teesside economy dipped as well and his assets appeared to all on be on Teesside. I don't know how interested his sons were in his businesses.

I remember reading he got a junction with slips on and off on the Parkway at Marton when he was been designed. This would give good access to the Marton Countrty Club. It could be a Teesside urban myth.

Wasn't one of his hotels burnt down (Royal York in Redcar in the 1970s).

He certainly was a big business person in the area in the 1960s and 70s.
 
His business empire seems to have gone with him. Maybe he lost interest after 1982 and he became older and people were angry with him. The Teesside economy dipped as well and his assets appeared to all on be on Teesside. I don't know how interested his sons were in his businesses.

I remember reading he got a junction with slips on and off on the Parkway at Marton when he was been designed. This would give good access to the Marton Countrty Club. It could be a Teesside urban myth.

Wasn't one of his hotels burnt down (Royal York in Redcar in the 1970s).

He certainly was a big business person in the area in the 1960s and 70s.
The York burnt down first in 1970, a few people died in it, tragically. It burnt down again many years later but I don’t know if he owned it then.

The empty Marton Country club, still owned by the family, spontaneously combusted a few years ago as well.

Sad coincidences, of course
 
Going back to the sports centre, I seem to remember that public grant funding was involved in it construction, which would have to be returned to the funder as it never opened to the public.
 
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An old mate of mine worked on the "sports centre" for a tiling company. He said at the it was the most ridiculous building he had ever worked on and would never open. Money was going all over the place through processes that no one seemed to understand. Work was done and then knocked down and re done. But he got paid.

To be fair the fires don't seem to be related to anything other than coincidence as I think his involvement in both hotels had ended long before they combusted.
 
The York burnt down first in 1970, a few people died in it, tragically. It burnt down again many years later but I don’t know if he owned it then.

The empty Marton Country club, still owned by the family, spontaneously combusted a few years ago as well.

Sad coincidences, of course

Article from the Gazette on the York Hotel Fire In 1970 here


I remember at the time of the fire they said that one of the problems was that all the windows in the York were mock Georgian which meant the glass panes were each about a foot square so you couldn’t smash a window big enough to escape from; you can see that clearly from the photos of the blaze. When it was rebuilt it was done with large plate glass windows instead.
 
An old mate of mine worked on the "sports centre" for a tiling company. He said at the it was the most ridiculous building he had ever worked on and would never open. Money was going all over the place through processes that no one seemed to understand. Work was done and then knocked down and re done. But he got paid.

To be fair the fires don't seem to be related to anything other than coincidence as I think his involvement in both hotels had ended long before they combusted.
He owned the York when it burnt down in December 1970 and he built its replacement. He may not have owned the replacement when that burnt down.
 
We didn't exactly turn up in droves to support a decide young side between 77 and 81, not all to do with the area suffering economically. It was a lot cheaper to watch decent quality top flight football than to watch today's second tier fayre.
 
He lived in a ’suite’ in the Country Club overlooking the Rudd’s right up until his death . He was over a century when he died .
 
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