PETER Gadsby has always been fiercely proud of his Derbyshire roots.

Born in Ashbourne, he attended Ashbourne Grammar School.

He was a keen sportsman and in 1982 played in North America for the Tulsa Roughnecks.

On his return to Britain, he became development director at John Gould and JF Miller and ran his own firm, P Birch and Sons, from 1987.

He become involved in the Rams four years later but left and then returned in 1994.

He was vice-chairman to chairman Lionel Pickering and the Rams won promotion to the Premier League under Jim Smith in 1995-6.

Mr Gadsby oversaw the move from the Baseball Ground to Pride Park Stadium in 1997.

In 2002, he and fellow-director John Kirkland resigned. Their offer of £10m investment was rejected by Mr Pickering.

In October 2003, Derby County was sold to a consortium comprising John Sleightholme, who became the Rams' new chairman, Jeremy Keith and Steve Harding.

In 2006, Mr Gadsby led another consortium to take over the club. The group of local businessmen included Mr Kirkland, Mike Horton, Mel Morris, Peter Marples and Don Amott. Mr Gadsby was named as the club's new chairman.

At the same time, he found his way into the Sunday Times' Rich List 2006-2007, his £45m putting him at number 1,401.

He stepped down as chairman in October 2007, after promotion was gained to the Premier League. He handed over to Adam Pearson, but remained as a director.

The board agreed to push on with talks over potential American investment and Mr Pearson confirmed the takeover of General Sports and Entertainment in January 2008.

Mr Gadsby became a non-executive director but the Rams announced he was leaving the post in July that year.

He then hit out at the club's owners and posed questions about GSE's investments.

In 2008, Mr Gadsby's wealth was said to have increased to £75m, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

He has run and owned several successful businesses in the food, retail and leisure sectors, prior to becoming heavily involved in property with Birch Plc, Cedar House Investments and Miller Birch.

In January 2010, he was given a doctorate by the University of Derby in business administration for his business leadership.