At 70, he became the oldest man to row solo across the Atlantic. He is also one of only 10 sailors to circumnavigate North and South America, and has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
He has beaten prostate cancer, built the world’s only coal-powered Land Rover and has gone from an impoverished upbringing where he would stuff cardboard into his school shoes to fill holes in the soles to owning one of the country’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of portable cabins.
It is safe to say Frank Rothwell enjoys a challenge - which is handy given he has just paid £12m for a Premier League founder member about to start the first campaign in its 127-year history outside the football league.