Stephen Vaughan, controversial former football club owner, dies
Former professional boxer Derry Matthews, from Birkenhead, also paid tribute to his "first ever manager" - writing on Facebook: "No one could do a prep talk before a fight like you."
Mr Vaughan was banned from acting as a company director for 10 years after an Insolvency Service investigation concluded he had been involved in a "carousel fraud" while a director at Widnes Vikings in 2006. Carousel frauds involve the cross-border trading of goods aimed at illegally reclaiming VAT.Widnes had entered into administration in October 2007 with liabilities of more than £1.6m.After the FA struck off Mr Vaughan in 2009, he was forced to handover the reigns at Chester and sold his stake to his son.
Prison sentence
Mr Vaughan took over Barrow FC in 1995. But he resigned as chair in 1997 after being named in a Customs and Excise money laundering probe centred around Liverpool drugs baron Curtis Warren. The case was eventually dropped and he returned as chairman before leaving the club permanently in 1998. In 2010 Mr Vaughan was convicted of an affray and the assault of a police officer in Wirral and received a 15 month prison sentence. He was released the following year and in 2012 moved to Malta, where he purchased local club Floriana FC and appointed Stephen Vaughan Jnr as chairman. In 2016, the pair were linked to a buy-out at Bangor City FC in North Wales, and Mr Vaughan Jr was player-manager until 2019.
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