Former Aston Villa chairman dies aged 94

Sir Doug Ellis, the former Aston Villa chairman, has died at the age of 94, the club has announced.

Having made his fortune in the travel industry, Ellis, who was the founder of Aston Manor Cider, became Villa chairman in December 1968.

When he took over at the helm for the first time, Villa were on the edge of disaster, with a poor team in the old Second Division, falling attendances, heavy financial losses and a ground badly in need of repair.

His first tasks were to instigate a share issue which raised desperately-needed funds and to bring in the charismatic Tommy Docherty as manager, an appointment which generated major interest in the club, Villa said in a tribute on its website.

By the end of the following season, when Villa were relegated to Division Three for the first time in its history, Docherty had been sacked, although Ellis’s next two appointments were considerably more successful.

Between them, Vic Crowe and his successor Ron Saunders guided Villa to two League Cup triumphs and eventually back to the top-flight.

Ellis resigned as chairman in September 1975 and four years later departed as a director.

But he returned in 1982 and remained chairman until 2006, when he sold the club to American entrepreneur Randy Lerner.

By the time he took up his honourary position of president emeritus, a total of 13 managers had served under him.

He was awarded the OBE in the 2005 New Year’s Honours List and a Knighthood in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List.

A club statement read: “Aston Villa Football Club is deeply saddened to hear of the death of our former chairman Sir Doug Ellis. Our president emeritus passed away this morning. There’s no question that Sir Doug dedicated his life to Aston Villa. Our condolences go out to family and friends at this very sad time.”

Villa players will wear black armbands and a minute’s silence will be observed before the club’s next home match with Swansea a week on Saturday.