Ken Davy

{{Short description|English businessman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Use British English|date=November 2011}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2008}} '''Kenneth Ernest Davy''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (born 1941) is an English businessman. He is the owner and former chairman of the rugby league club Huddersfield Giants and former chairman of football club Huddersfield Town. He stood for Parliament as a Conservative Party candidate in 1970 and 1974, and again in 2019.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/why-ken-davys-love-affair-with-huddersfield-giants-is-everlasting-3065813 | title=Why Ken Davy's love affair with Huddersfield Giants is everlasting | date=12 December 2020 }}</ref>

==Career== Davy grew up in Filey on the East Coast of Yorkshire. He left school at 15 with no academic qualifications and worked as a photographer for P&O. At 21 he set up a commercial photography business in Huddersfield before joining Abbey Life in 1971. In 1979 he formed the independent financial advice company DBS, which he sold in June 2001, for £75 million. In 2003, he set up SimplyBiz, providing development, research and marketing services to financial advisers.

In 2011, he gave his views on the changes happening in the financial services industry "Restricted advice will prove much less attractive than many organisations believe. I can see why life insurers would be attracted to it, because it is a way of increasing their profits, but it does nothing for consumers or advisers."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/mm-profile-ken-davy/ |title=MM Profile: Ken Davy |website=www.moneymarketing.co.uk |date= 20 October 2011|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> However, he later launched a national Restricted (rather than Independent) advice firm - ''Sandringham Partners'' in 2012, backed by £2m from SimplyBiz.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/ken-davy-unveils-sandringham-financial-partners/ |title=Ken Davy unveils Sandringham Financial Partners |website=www.moneymarketing.co.uk |date= 4 July 2012|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> He was made an OBE in the New Year's honours list in 2024/25.

=== The Shay Stadium and Halifax Sports Proposals === In March 2025, Calderdale Council approved Ken Davy's purchase of The Shay Stadium from the local authority, securing its future as a multi-sport venue shared by FC Halifax Town (football) and Halifax Panthers (rugby league).<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-03-18 |title=Davy's purchase of The Shay approved by council |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cyve2n8j4n3o |publisher=BBC Sport}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2025-10-31 |title=Huddersfield Giants owner given go-ahead to buy The Shay |url=https://www.totalrl.com/huddersfield-giants-owner-given-go-ahead-to-buy-the-shay/ |publisher=TotalRL}}</ref>

Davy's ownership includes commitments for facility upgrades, such as a hybrid pitch, to support temporary use by Huddersfield Giants from 2026 pending their new stadium.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-03-17 |title=Stadium Update |url=https://fchalifaxtown.com/news/stadium-update/ |publisher=FC Halifax Town}}</ref>

In hypothetical scenarios discussed by local supporters, Davy has been linked to concepts for a unified "Halifax Sports Club" merging the Panthers and FC Halifax Town operations at The Shay. Proponents envision this evolving into a new 15,000-seat stadium near Skircoat Green by 2028, with football relocating there post-merger while rugby retains a revamped Shay for community use.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hypothetical Halifax merger discussions |url= |publisher=}}</ref> These ideas remain speculative and have not advanced to formal proposals.

==Huddersfield Giants== In 1996, Davy took over as chairman of Huddersfield Giants rugby league club. In 1999, he merged Huddersfield Giants with Sheffield Eagles, a move which resulted in the formation of the Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants. It was an unpopular move with supporters, and after one season the club reverted to being the Huddersfield Giants.

During Davy's chairmanship Huddersfield Giants went from being a Second Division club to a Super League force, competing in semi finals and finals. The club were promoted to the Super League in 1998, and despite being relegated in 2001, the team came straight back up in 2002 and won the 2002 Northern Ford Premiership remaining unbeaten throughout the league season and playoffs, and winning the Buddies Cup. Only 4 years later, Huddersfield Giants played St. Helens in the 2006 Challenge Cup Final at Twickenham Stadium, London. It was the first time that Huddersfield had reached the final since 1962. That was followed up with another Challenge Cup Final appearance, this time losing to Warrington Wolves at Wembley Stadium in 2009, a third cup final appearance under Davy's stewardship was secured in 2022 when the Giants emphatically beat Hull Kingston Rovers 25-4 at Elland Road to book a place in the final at Tottenham.

In 2013 the Giants won the League Leaders Shield, after a 40–0 victory over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, It was the first time a Huddersfield team had topped the table in 81 years. They were also Challenge cup semi finalists in 2004 and 2012 losing to St Helens and Warrington again, respectively, as well as making the Super League playoffs semi finals in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

==Huddersfield Town== Davy led the successful consortium, out of three interested, that took over Huddersfield Town A.F.C. in 2003, when they were in administration following the collapse of ITV Digital and Town's recent relegation to the Football League's bottom tier. As part of the takeover Huddersfield Town's 40% share in the ground was transferred to a holding company, Huddersfield Sporting Pride Ltd. Huddersfield Sporting Pride Ltd holds a 60% stake in the Huddersfield ground with the combined original stakes of the football and rugby club, the other 40% stake is owned by Kirklees Council.

In September 2006, he was criticised for failing to offer Town a significant transfer budget for the 2006–07 season to enable the club to build on their play-off position of the previous season. The budget, which was unspecified, was (according to former manager Peter Jackson) already used up on signing just two players, goalkeeper Matt Glennon and striker Luke Beckett despite the release of several players. However, Davy stated that Jackson was given the opportunity to strengthen his squad in order to mount a drive for promotion. This was not utilised and Jackson's "inability to attract key players" was one of the reasons given by Davy for the manager's dismissal.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/huddersfield_town/6422635.stm "Huddersfield sack manager Jackson"], BBC Sport, 6 March 2007</ref>

After Huddersfield's 2–3 loss to Yeovil Town on 16 September 2006, he addressed a peaceful demonstration of around 100 Town fans who had called for him to up the transfer budget or go, because of Town's poor start to the season in Football League One, in which they only picked up nine points from the first nine games.

On 3 June 2009, he handed over the chairmanship to Dean Hoyle and, after a brief period of retaining a minority shareholding, relinquished all ownership in Huddersfield Town.<ref name="TeamTalk">[https://archive.today/20130105062245/http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1822_3406615,00.html "Hoyle to be Terriers chairman"], TEAMtalk, retrieved 11 April 2008</ref>

He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Huddersfield and an Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Insurance Institute.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simplybizgroup.co.uk/about-us/ken-davy/ |title= Ken Davy - SimplyBiz Group|website=www.simplybizgroup.co.uk |access-date=27 May 2016}}{{title missing|date=May 2022}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davy, Ken}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:People from Filey Category:Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Category:English football chairmen and investors Category:Huddersfield Giants Category:Rugby league people in England Category:Rugby league chairmen and investors Category:Sports owners Category:Sportspeople from Huddersfield Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates