George Forbes (businessman)


George Robert Forbes is a Scottish businessman and a former chairman of Newcastle United Football Club.

Biography

Forbes grew up on the family farm in Berwickshire and is the sixth generation of Forbes to have lived and farmed there.
He qualified as a livestock auctioneer and went from an employee at Wooler Auction Mart to the owner of the business and site, subsequently turning it into the biggest livestock auction mart in the United Kingdom. At the time the business encompassed various other livestock auction mart sites including Tyneside Auction Mart in Newcastle upon Tyne. Forbes eventually sold the livestock auction business to John Swan PLC, where he remained as a director until the business was acquired by H&H Group PLC in 2015.
In the 1980s, Forbes was invited to join the Newcastle United board of directors as it aimed to appease fan discontent by appointing a number of local businessmen. Forbes was a Newcastle United supporter from his early years and attended games throughout the country from his late teens. He moved from director to vice-chairman and finally chairman at Newcastle in 1990. He chaired the club during an extremely difficult period for no salary and no financial gain and was chairman during the takeover by Sir John Hall in 1992.
After the takeover and his resignation as chairman in 1992, Forbes declined the opportunity to become a shareholding member of the new board of directors as he believed that Hall's interests were financial and not those of a Newcastle United supporter. It is rumoured that Hall had not been to a Newcastle game before his interest in purchasing the football club.
Forbes was appointed chairman of British Cereal Exports in 2006, a post he held until 2013. BCE is part of HGCA and promotes exports of UK cereals as whole grain on behalf of the industry.
Forbes has expanded the family farm to a substantial acreage which is farmed by one of his businesses, GRF Farms. Forbes also invests in and develops property through another of his businesses, GRF Land and Property.
Forbes continues to live at the family farm near Coldstream in Berwickshire.