Huddersfield chief Hoyle rises up 'rich list' ladder

Astute Terriers chairman Dean Hoyle has nearly quadrupled his and wife Janet's value in the last 12 months according to latest figures, shooting up from 40m to 154m, underscoring his business pedigree.

Such numbers may pale in comparison to Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour – who has returned to the top of the sport's rich list with an estimated fortune of 20bn, moving him back in front of QPR shareholder Lakshmi Mittal, whose wealth has dipped to a mere 17bn – but it is certainly a significant boost for the League One outfit.

Wakefield-born Hoyle, who sold his greetings card business for 350m to private equity firm Charterhouse last year, has risen from 61st to 42nd, one of the highest movers from all Yorkshire's representatives.

The club's majority shareholder has backed manager Lee Clark to the hilt since coming on board in 2008 and is desperate to fuel their bid for promotion.

A lifelong Terriers fan, the

43-year-old has seen his business profile rocket since and his placing on the rich list – as compiled by FourFourTwo magazine – will further reassure supporters that their future is in safe hands.

However, for all Hoyle's rapid movement, Doncaster Rovers director Terry Bramall – who sold his Keepmoat building operation three years ago shortly after they agreed to sponsor the club's new stadium – is the region's wealthiest with a fortune of 450m that sees him rank as the 25th richest in British football.

The South Yorkshire club are well served with fellow director and another former Keepmoat shareholder Dick Watson (51st) also highly valued at 95m although Rovers chairman John Ryan's overall worth has apparently dipped by 2m.

Sheffield United chairman Kevin McCabe, who has plenty of investment in Chinese dealings, has seen his estate increase marginally to 175m but he falls in the overall list from 33rd to 39th.

Going the other way is Middlesbrough chief Steve Gibson whose stock has vastly risen from 82m to 142m over the last year.

Gibson O'Neill, which controls Boro and owns Bulkhaul, hit a record 29.7m profit on 197.6m sales in 2009.

Former Sheffield Wednesday chairman David Allen ranks at 57 with a 75m value having become Chesterfield's majority shareholder nearly 18 months ago.

The 68-year-old is also a 99.9 per cent shareholder in Sheffield-based A&S Leisure group, which boasts six casinos.

Andrew Laver, who reportedly has 3.6m shares in Sheffield United, sees his worth remain unchanged at 40m, dropping down to 68th in the list, 10 places in front of Barnsley chairman Patrick Cryne (30m).

Leeds United chairman Ken Bates (98) just sneaks into the top 100 with 20m to his name – the same as 2009 – while Yorkshire developer and former Leeds director Peter Gilman, now on the Walsall board, is worth 5m more.

On a national scale, it is a sign of the incredulous sums of money being bandied around the Premier League that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who once dominated everyone else on the list, has now fallen to fourth.

He has been ousted by uber-rich Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, whose estate has exploded to rise from 1.3bn to 8bn.

"For so many years, Roman Abramovich was the top dog, but now he faces challenges wherever he looks," said FourFourTwo editor Hugh Sleight.

"It isn't that Abramovich has got poorer, but more and more billionaires are coming into English football. When we first published this list in 2003, there were two. Now there are 15."

In terms of players, David Beckham remains the richest with a value of 100m although that is down 25 per cent on last year and includes his wife Victoria's earnings.

"For Beckham, missing the World Cup and approaching retirement have had an effect and we've cut his value by a fifth to 100m," said Sleight.

"As you'd expect, Brand Beckham have a cunning business plan to ensure their financial power continues even after Becks hangs up his boots, but that's still in its early stages and has yet to bear fruit.

"So for now, it's down to No 49 for Becks."

Ex-Leeds captain Rio Ferdinand may have spent most of the last year injured but, with off-field business dealings, his stock has risen by 4m to 34m and he is ranked third, just behind Manchester United colleague Michael Owen.

Their England manager Fabio Capello is the wealthiest boss with an estimated fortune of 36m and the list once again demonstrates football's ability to ignore the recession as the overall value has risen to 77bn, 8bn higher than a year ago.