Louis Charles Edwards from Salford, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 businessman and chairman of Manchester United

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 from 1965 to 1980.

Manchester United

Edwards made his fortune in meat packaging, and from the late 1950s was an investor in Manchester United. He became club chairman in 1965, overseeing United's success in winning the Football League First Division and the European Cup, and by the 1970s was the majority shareholder.

Edwards died of a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 in 1980, four weeks after a World in Action

World in Action

World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...

 TV investigation into his alleged involvement in illegal share trading and slush fund

Slush fund

A slush fund, colloquially, is an auxiliary monetary account or a reserve fund. However, in the context of corrupt dealings, such as those by governments or large corporations, a slush fund can have particular connotations of illegality, illegitimacy, or secrecy in regard to the use of this money...

s, which was broadcast on 28 January. His son Martin

Martin Edwards

Charles Martin Edwards was the chairman of Manchester United from 1980 until 2002. He now holds the position of honorary life president at the club.- Education :...

 succeeded him as chairman.

Meat contracts corruption and malpractice

Edwards' meat packaging business was a financially successful enterprise in the 1970s, but an investigation by the Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

/ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 investigative journalism

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

 series World in Action

World in Action

World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...

 alleged that such dominance had in fact been achieved through bribing school officials in order to win lucrative contracts in cities such as Manchester.

The Granada investigation also claimed that his company supplied condemned meat that was unfit for human consumption to be used in school dinners.

Youth team corruption

The investigation also exposed how Manchester United had a secret fund for bribing parents of young players the club wished to recruit. In one case in the early 1960s it was alleged that a bribe of £5,000 was paid to the parents of Peter Lorimer

Peter Lorimer

Peter Patrick Lorimer is a former footballer who formed part of the much-admired and feared Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s....

, a promising young player whom the club had wanted to recruit. The bung was in fact later returned when the player chose Leeds United instead though this was a clear breach of football association rules. Investigations by the police into Edwards' dealings were never fully completed due to his death soon after the inquiries began. The FA decided against a formal investigation and merely discussed the issue instead. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000904/ai_n14334462