Mystery investor revealed by Matlock Town

David Hilton

An unnamed investor has started pumping money into Northern Premier League side Matlock Town, it has emerged.

The backer was revealed at the AGM and EGM of The Gladiators last Monday evening, when the company that owns the club changed its status to Limited by Shares, to “allow for future investment”.

A statement from Matlock Town said: “A vote was taken by season ticket holders for that change in status to take place. An investor was approved at this meeting, who has passed the Football Association’s Owners and Directors Test as well as thorough due diligence having been performed by the board.”

The motion was passed by a “substantial” majority.

The statement added: “This change will allow Matlock Town FC to grow considerably on and off the pitch.

“The current directors of the club have worked hard with the approved investor over the last few months to ensure there are covenants in place to ensure the future of the club and mitigate against any risks from external investment. The investor was keen to ensure that extra protections were in place to remove any doubt of a lack of future sustainability.”

The controversial Nottingham businessman, David Hilton –  former owner of Scunthorpe United and one-time chairman of Ilkeston Town – is rumoured to be the unnamed backer of Matlock Town.

If the investor is revealed as Hilton, it will place him and the club under increased scrutiny after he endured a torrid time as the owner of Scunthorpe United in 2023.

In September 2023, he revealed he had served nine months of a two-year sentence for 15 counts of fraud worth a total of £68,000, which he had since paid back, after an investigation by The Athletic.

The Athletic investigation, via a podcast, alleged Hilton had twice changed his name – from his birth name of David White to David Anderson and then David Hilton – and that as David White he was director of four companies that were dissolved without filing accounts between 2006 and 2012. As David Anderson, two further companies were dissolved, and he was convicted of 15 counts of fraud, cleared of a 16th offence, and started a two-year prison sentence in April 2015.

Hilton said the convictions related to his keeping the proceeds of a council refuse skip brokerage.

“It was completely the wrong decision,” he said. “I’m completely embarrassed by it. But it happened.”

Hilton, who stepped down as Ilkeston Town chairman when he bought Scunthorpe United in early 2023, said he had trained as an electrician and started property companies which failed as a result of the global crash. He said the failures led to the break-up of his relationship, and in 2011 he had attempted suicide.

The decision to keep the money was when he was in that “dark place”, he said. “I didn’t really care. I didn’t care about consequences, didn’t really care what happened to me.”

He had run out of money and used the fraudulent proceeds to live, not to fund a flashy lifestyle, he said.

But he said his time in prison allowed him time to reflect, and to quit anti-depressants.

Hilton sold Scunthorpe United in October 2023, after he said he was unwilling to fund the club any more. It was saved in a deal led by local businesswoman Michelle Harness.

Matlock Town currently sit in 15th place in the Northern Premier League, which forms levels seven and eight of the English football league pyramid.