Maurice Watkins (solicitor)

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Maurice Watkins LLB, LLM is a Director of Manchester United's football board. He is also the club's solicitor. He is also Joint Senior Partner of Brabners Chaffe Street LLP Solicitors in Manchester.

Maurice was educated at Manchester Grammar School and University College London.

Martin Edwards asked Maurice Watkins to became a director of Manchester United Football Club on 12 May 1977, the same day as Sir Bobby Charlton. In 1991 when Martin Edwards floated Manchester United on the stock exchange Maurice joined the PLC Board as a non-executive director. Martin and Maurice were the only two directors who served both on the Football Board and the PLC Board. At the AGM in 2005 Malcolm Glazer opposed Maurice's re-election to the PLC board along with two other directors Sir Roy Gardner the then PLC Chairman and Philip Yea a fellow non-executive director. After Malcolm Glazer had completed his takeover of Manchester United he de-listed it from the stock exchanged and made it a private company once again. Maurice Watkins remains on the clubs football board and is the clubs lawyer.

Maurice has overseen numerous high profile football transfers both at home in the United Kingdom and abroad. He has also represented clubs and players before FIFA, UEFA, the FA, the Premier League and the Football League disciplinary bodies. Also he has represented players and clubs at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and international and league compensation tribunals. He worked with the South African and Nigerian Premier leagues in respect of broadcasting and regulatory matters.

Maurice Watkins regularly speaks on football and sports law issues within the United Kingdom and internationally. He has represented both the Football Association and the Premier League at conferences in Egypt, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago and Japan.

[edit] Positions Maurice currently occupies are:

  • Director of Manchester United Football Club Limited
  • Company Secretary for MUTV (Manchester United Television)
  • Director of the British Association for Sport and Law (Former President & Chairman)
  • Member of the FA Premier League Legal Working party
  • FA Premier League representative on the Association of European Union Premier Professional Leagues (EPFL)
  • Member of Working Group for Financial Matters of the FIFA Task Force "For the Good of the Game"
  • Member of the FIFA Decision of the Dispute Resolution Chamber
  • Non-Executive Director for the Rugby Football League
  • Regional Chairman for Coutts Bank
  • Trustee of the Professional Footballers Pension Scheme
  • Appeal Chairman of the New Children’s Hospital Appeal
  • Governor of Manchester Grammar School