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Ronald Geoffrey Noades (22 June 1937 – 24 December 2013) was an English businessman, best known for his investments in football clubs. He was the chairman of Southall, Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and finally Brentford. He was also the manager of Brentford from 1998 to 2000, and led the club to the Third Division championship in 1999.
Noades remained chairman of Wimbledon until 1981, when the club won a second promotion to the Third Division. Just before departing, he appointed Dave Bassett as manager – a move which would bring the club great success.
In 1985–86, Palace fell just short of promotion to the First Division, but they had just added striker Ian Wright from non-league Greenwich Borough to their ranks, and then signed striker Mark Bright from Leicester City to create what was one of the most prolific strikeforces in the club's history. Promotion finally occurred in 1989, and a year later Palace took Manchester United to a replay in the final of the FA Cup before a narrow defeat. They finished third in the league a year later.
In 1991, Noades provoked controversy with his comments on the racial make-up of his team: "The black players at this club lend the side a lot of skill and flair, but you also need white players in there to balance things up and give the team some brains and some common sense." The fall-out led to several black players leaving the club, including key players Ian Wright, Mark Bright and Andy Gray.
Palace were relegated from the Premier League in 1993 at the end of its first season, but were promoted a year later, only to go down again after just one season, during which they were semi-finalists in both domestic cups. Promotion was achieved for the third time in less than a decade in 1997, but again Palace were relegated after just one season.
In 1998, Noades sold his interest in Palace to recruitment tycoon Mark Goldberg for £22,000,000 (although Noades actually lent Goldberg £5,000,000 of this, as he could not afford it). Despite being advised against purchasing the club by Noades' own accountants, Goldberg continued with the negotiations. Noades had offered the club for £9m to a consortium of Kent and Surrey businessmen the previous year. The fee included the club and its players' contracts, but not Selhurst Park, Palace's home ground. As the club prepared for relegation from the Premier League, Noades acted as caretaker manager, after the appointment of Attilio Lombardo and Tomas Brolin failed to save Palace from relegation. Head coach Terry Venables took over management of the team following Noades departure from the club that summer.
With the sale of club completed, Goldberg's financiers withdrew their interest, and he found himself in debt to Noades. The club went through a subsequent administration, which lasted until 2000.
Unbeknownst to Jordan, Ron Noades and Paul Kemsley knew each other and Noades was fully aware of what Jordan was doing prior to agreeing to the sale. Noades in fact wrote to Jordan prior to accepting the offer through Kemsley's investment group and offered him the Stadium for the same price. Jordan never replied and so Kemsley was allowed to purchase Selhurst Park.
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