Morgan - is he the right man?

He has since sold his company, based in Flintshire, but it has operations all over the country, including Redrow Homes (West Midlands) based at Redrow House, Coombswood Business Park, Steelpark Road, Halesowen.

Born in Garston, south Liverpool, he is best known in football circles for his ongoing, but failed, attempt to take a slice of Liverpool Football Club. In 2004 he gave the Merseyside outfit seven days to respond to his offer to inject £73 million into the club.

He said his cash injection would again place the club on a sound financial footing, helping to strengthen the playing squad and partly funding a proposed new stadium. But his efforts came to nothing.

Morgan, a lifelong Liverpool fan, is regarded as one of Britain's most astute builders and property developers. He founded the construction company and housebuilder in 1974 and ran it until 2000 when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In the 1990s he invested in hotels, eventually merging his interests into De Vere Hotel Group.

In the process he amassed a fortune of several hundred million pounds from his business activities, and is a regular on the Sunday Times Rich List, where as long ago as 2006 he was ranked 153rd with an estimated fortune of £425 million.

Philip Beresford, compiler of the list, said: "he would be second only to Chelsea's Roman Abramovich in terms of football club owners with ready cash. Mohamed al-Fayed at Fulham has his wealth tied up in Harrods, so he doesn't have so much cash available to spend."

He has certainly come a long, long way in the last 30 years. It was back in 1974, when he was aged just 21 that he borrowed £5,000 from his father to to buy his then employers, Wellington Civil Engineering, which was on the verge of going out of business.

That investment by the on-site engineer was the first step in a business career which peaked in the formation of housing giant Redrow. "All I knew for certain was that I had a passion for the construction industry, and was determined to make Redrow a success," he recalled in a company history produced for employees.

He still owns a £50 million stake in the building firm, as well as retaining a £68 million holding in De Vere Hotels who, in 1999, bought his two major hotels (St David's Park Hotel in North Wales and Carden Park Hotel near Chester), and is now a major shareholder in the hotel chain.

Mr Morgan lives in Jersey, but has invested some £8 million in renovating Carden Hall, a stately home near his former hotel.

He also likes to give something back to society, putting his money where his mouth is to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs. He has unveiled Morgan foundation entrepreneur awards and donated £100,000 in cash prizes. And he set up the Morgan Foundation in 2000 to help the less privileged.

by Jim Walsh, Business editor