THE forgotten man who steered Swindon Town to the top table of English football and enjoyed a decorated career in town planning has died.

Ken Chapman, who served as Town’s chairman between 1990 and 1994, presided over the club’s most successful period with promotion to the Premier League.

The Islington-born town planner was responsible for making the telephone call which brought Glenn Hoddle to the County Ground as player-manager in 1991.

Mr Chapman, one of the two founding partners of Swindon planners Chapman Warren, died on March 21 aged 64 after battling bowel cancer.

Club historian Dick Mattick said Ken was always keen to run Swindon like a business and steadied the ship after a period of financial instability.

“Fair play to him, he brought somebody [Hoddle] in who was seen by some as being a bit of a maverick, good individually, but nobody knew whether he would be a good manager,” he said.

“Ken ran it like a business. He realised he [Hoddle] was box office. It was a good choice and he’s got to have credit for that.

“He’s not a man who will be very familiar, one of those who deserves more credit than he’s given.

“Sometimes chairmen buy a lot of credit with other people’s money, but Ken Chapman ran it like a business.”

Steve Abbley, Cirencester Town chairman and former Town player, spent time with Mr Chapman in December and says a decision was made to end his chemotherapy.

Mr Abbley worked with his friend on the project to develop Cirencester’s stadium and recalled how he eventually stepped down as County Ground chairman before the end of Swindon’s one season (1993/94) in the Premier League.

“He was trying to sell his business and that was taking an awful lot of time. He also took a bit of stick from the fans,” he said.

“He felt that he didn’t need it. I remember him saying his wife was abused in the street and felt he didn’t want to be chairman that much.

“He had loved it and wouldn’t have swapped it for the world, but a couple of years was enough.

“What we don’t realise is people think managers are under pressure, but being the man in charge really was pressure.”

Outside the football boardroom, Mr Chapman was a successful town planner.

He teamed up with Graham Warren to create Chapman Warren in Royal Wootton Bassett in 1981.

The new business was focused on town planning matters and built a strong reputation nationwide.

It was eventually sold in 2000 to the RPS Group for a sizeable sum, while Mr Chapman continued as a director to help with the two firms’ integration.

Christopher Simkins, of RPS, said: “As an individual, Ken Chapman would have been successful in many walks of life.

“His exceptional entrepreneurial, commercial and personal skills would have been widely applicable.

“An influential, persuasive and amenable man who was always quick to laugh, he will be greatly missed by those who knew him.”

He leaves his wife Pam, sons Mark and Daniel, and a large extended family including four grandchildren.