The chairman of a scandal-stricken football club died the day after a family celebration for his daughter’s ninth birthday.

David Le Cluse, 44, chairman of Croydon Athletic Football Club shot himself with a rifle in a lock-up garage in Wallington two miles away from his home in Carshalton.

The body of Mr Le Cluse, who owned a family-run pest control business, was found by his wife Julie on Saturday morning.

According to a source close to the family he had been out the night before with his family to celebrate and appeared to be in good spirits, joining in with the celebrations for daughter Amelia’s ninth birthday, which was on Sunday.

The married father-of-two was said to be extremely upset after the Thornton Heath club became embroiled in scandal in August when its owner Mazhar Majeed, from Croydon, was accused of fixing a cricket match between Pakistan and England.

Mr Majeed was arrested and bailed by police over the allegations, which include claims he used his non-league football club to launder money.

Mr Le Cluse was not being investigated.

Since the allegations surfaced the club has lost its managers, top players and was on the brink of financial ruin.

It is believed Mr Le Cluse may have lost up to £50,000 due to the bad publicity surrounding the club.

The father, who also leaves behind a son, Ollie, was thought to be out on a pest control job shooting pigeons.

A postmortem examination held on Monday at St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, gave the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head. He did not leave any notes for his family.

The businessman met Mr Majeed after helping him out with a pest problem on his property. The property developer started taking him along to football games at Croydon Athletic after he bought the club.

Mr Le Cluse became a passionate fan, taking over as chairman in November last year.

He has not been implicated in the match-fixing scandal and was devastated by the implications for the club, which was thrown into chaos and on the brink of extinction.

Mr Le Cluse devoted his time to saving the non-league outfit, a move that won him admiration and gratitude from fans.

Croydon Athletic expressed its sadness at the tragedy.

In a statement, it said: “Croydon Athletic are deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden, tragic death of their chairman, David Le Cluse, on Saturday, October 2.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with David’s wife and children, and we would ask everyone to respect their privacy at this devastating time.”

Shocked friends and fans also spoke of their distress at the death of the passionate and dedicated chairman.

Former manager Tim O’Shea said: “It was a massive shock and it’s a very sad loss. He did everything in his power to save the club, he was a great guy and I am deeply saddened.”

Paul Smith, the chairman of supporters club the Rams Army, said: “David was always willing to talk about the club and he was very approachable. There is no doubt in our minds that he was very committed to the club. It is such a loss because he had a great passion and real love for the club.”

Another dedicated Rams fan, Shasha Khan, said: “He was always positive, after the News of the World allegations he reassured fans we were somehow going to get through this. Everyone always had positive things to say about David, which makes it all the more difficult to comprehend.”

The news of chairman David Le Cluse’s death is the latest tragedy to hit the beleaguered club, which has been rocked by a series of scandals over the past two years.

Just months ago the future of the Rams looked bright, they were undefeated after four matches and looked set to challenge for another promotion within the Ryman League.

Mr Le Cluse had been at the club for just under a year, he was brought in to replace disgraced former chairman Dean Fisher, who was the subject of a fraud case.

The 36-year-old was forced to step down from his position at Croydon Athletic after embezzling £500,000 from his day job, using some of it to prop up the club.

It emerged in court that Fisher put more than £250,000 into the league champions running costs, which had a reputation in Ryman Division One South as being able to offer players attractive wages of up to £500 a week. He was jailed for three years in July for the fraud.

Just over a month later the club’s owner Mazhar Majeed was implicated at the centre of an international cricket match-fixing scandal with allegations he laundered money through the non-league football club.

The club’s assets were frozen and it was unable to pay staff or star players. Manager Tim O’Shea and his squad quit in tears at the beginning of September and the club was on the brink of disaster with Mr Le Cluse working hard to try to save it.

Majeed, who is on police bail found the £10,000 needed to see the Rams to the end of the season. However, the promotion hopefuls look set to be relegated having been forced to field unpaid volunteers for the rest of their matches.

Fans have rallied round and hope they have not seen the last of their club.

Dedicated supporter Shasha Khan said: “Fans are trying to get their heads around this series of extraordinary events. We will continue to go to the club and we hope it can continue.”

Paul Smith from supporters club Rams Army said the chairman worked hard to save the club.

He said: “The club has been faced with an exceptional set of circumstances, David was very upset about what happened in August, anyone could see that.”

Karen Muir, Croydon Athletic secretary, said: “He was totally committed to the club and a really lovely guy. It’s just such a shock. We will miss him.

“He was very upset because he was putting so much into trying to save the club and he was absolutely distraught in those last days when we thought we were going to lose the club.”