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08
Jun
‘I’ve come full circle’: Harrogate lawyer on his return to Leeds United
This is the second of two reports on the career and memories of Peter McCormick, the Harrogate lawyer who rose to hold the most powerful jobs in English football.
Nearly forty years ago, Peter McCormick wanted to be involved in Leeds United.
His desire to be a part of a club he has supported all his life saw him reach the position of chairman.
For 12 years, Peter saw Leeds win a first division title, saw them compete in Europe and then oversaw a sale of the club to a group of businessmen from London before stepping down.
But, fast forward to the present day and he is back with a new role at the club. “I’ve come full circle,” he tells the Stray Ferret.
An opportunity
It was 1987 when Peter saw an opportunity at Leeds United.
The club was languishing in the second division and relying on young players like John Sheridan to challenge for promotion.
At the same time, business was going well for McCormicks. The practice was branching out into family, criminal, commercial and employment law.
For Peter, the opportunity at Leeds was simple — to get into the club and get work for the firm.
As a life long Leeds, I said ‘lets try and get involved in Leeds in some fashion’. So, what we started doing was sponsoring a game.
By today’s standards, sponsoring a match at Elland Road was cheap. McCormicks sponsored four matches in the 1987/88 season at a cost of £400 per game.
The sponsorship gave Peter and the firm an an executive box and the honour of presenting the man of the match award.
Peter with Leeds United legend, Peter Lorimer.
It also enabled him to develop a relationship with the commercial manager at Leeds, Bob Baldwin. Peter began being a master of ceremonies, where he would speak at corporate events at the club.
But, in 1988, he stepped up his strategy..
I told them [McCormicks partners] that I had a surprise for them, it was a new marketing plan. We’re going to take an executive box at Leeds. It cost £10,000 plus VAT. They said: ‘Peter our entire marketing budget for the entire firm isn’t £10,000’.
The strategy was to do more than the club's current lawyers, Booth & Co, were doing. Buying a box would give McCormicks an in at Elland Road.
I’d done my homework. Their current lawyers don’t even have a seat or corporate facility. They give nothing back and all they do is take. If we’re seen as giving and supporting then maybe they will give us some work.
The plan worked. On the Monday before the end of the season, Lesley Silver, the chairman, asked Peter to meet him at Elland Road. He asked him if he would be able to do the club’s legal work from the following season.
Naturally, Peter agreed and his journey with Leeds began.
In 1990, Peter was asked to join the board. However, the move would mean signing a guarantee for £3 million from the board to help fund an attempt to get out of the second division. Peter turned the offer down as he couldn’t afford to guarantee that kind of money.
However, he joined the board in 1992, the year Leeds won the first division title before the inaugural season of the Premier League.
The next four years alongside Mr Silver and Bill Fotherby, managing director, were a blast. Leeds were in Europe and competing in the newly formed Premier League.
Peter McCormick.
That was until 1996, when Peter was appointed chairman after director Peter Gilman, Mr Fotherby and Mr Silver decided to put Leeds up for sale. Peter was asked to oversee the sale of the club to Caspian Group and three years later he stepped down.
Over the next 26 years, Peter made inroads at the top of the Premier League while Leeds were relegated to the EFL Championship in 2004, then again to League One three years later before ultimately returning to the top flight in 2020.
Despite his move away from Elland Road, Peter was still on hand to offer advice to different owners at the club.
‘It’s time to smell the flowers a little bit’
This year, Peter decided it was time to call it a day at the Premier League. He was tired of the early Monday morning trains to London and returning late on a Thursday.
He also felt it was time that he and Kathryn spent more time together.
At our age, it’s time that we spent a bit more time together and smelt the flowers a little bit.
He spoke with Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, and gave his notice to leave in the summer of 2026.
But, in February, he received a phone call from Paraag Marathe, chairman of Leeds United and president of 49ers Enterprises — which increased its stake in Leeds and ultimately took ownership of the club in July 2023.
Peter had been helping Mr Marathe navigate English football since he took over the club.
Leeds were on course for promotion back to the Premier League after being relegated in 2023. But it was all change in the boardroom.
Mr Marathe rang Peter to ask to meet him. He told him that Angus Kinnear, the then chief executive of United, had resigned and was set to join Everton at the end of the season.
He asked him if he would become the chief executive from May.
I said if I am going to walk away from the Premier League, I’m not going to take on a seven day and seven night a week job.
Mr Marathe understood and asked him to meet him again the following morning where he would have a different offer.
On March 7, Leeds United announced that Peter would join the club as executive vice-chairman.
Peter with the EFL Championship trophy at Elland Road.
His new role will see him represent the club at matches, represent them at Premier League meetings and substitute for Mr Marathe in his absence. But his prime responsibility is to mentor the management at Leeds.
The arrangement works for Peter as it is not “all encompassing”. It also means he was able to leave his role at the Premier League to work nearer home in Harrogate and spend more time with Kathryn.
‘It’s hugely different’
In his own words, Peter has come “full circle” and ended up where he started all those years ago in 1987.
But, football is a different beast these days and Leeds United has changed.
It’s hugely different. Everything now is now more sophisticated and professional. When we were running the club in the early 90s, it wasn’t quite done on the back of an envelope but it wasn’t far off.
Put another way, when Peter was on the board in 1992, the Premier League four-year broadcasting deal was worth £60 million a year to the league. This coming season, the rights will be worth £12.3 billion.
The club has to adapt to the modern way of running a football club. Peter will be tasked to mentor those inside the club on how to operate as a Premier League side.
I think Leeds will need to gear up a bit. Part of my task will be to make it internally like a Premier League club. In the Championship, we have had to run a very, very tight ship. There’s a few areas where we are going to need to invest, but they [the 49ers] are committed to it.
For Peter, it’s an exciting time to return to the club. Leeds recently released designs for an expansion of Elland Road to 53,000 seats along with plans to regenerate the area around the ground.
It’s a far cry from 1987, when he first paid £400 to sponsor a match with hopes of one day being able to rub shoulders with the top brass at Leeds.
These days, £400 would barely pay for a player’s wages for an hour.
But, deep down, a return to Elland Road is exactly what he wanted to happen.
If I could have written the script, that would have been the script.
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