Sponsor leaves United sailing along nicely (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Sponsor leaves United sailing along nicely

IT'S far from plain sailing running a non-league football club so Evesham Marina's decision to sign a three-year sponsorship deal with Evesham United should help keep the club afloat for the immediate future.

"It's a tremendous deal for the club," said delighted chairman Jim Cockerton. "It's great to have a local company come on board and it's a deal that suits both parties and will obviously help keep the club ticking over."

The chairman is keeping the financial terms of the deal close to his chest but revealed that the Marina would feature prominently in the match programme and on club stationery.

The new backers will also appear on sponsor boards around the ground and in the programme, while also sponsoring a couple of matches for the next three seasons starting with this weekend's fixture against Clevedon.

The Marina's interest stemmed from a marketing exercise that saw 500 local businesses circularised with information about how to go about helping the club.

"The response was very good," said Brian Gregg, who has been assigned to look after the Southern League club's promotional campaign. "They got back to us very quickly and indicated that they wanted to become involved after the reopening of the Marina earlier this year.

"The timing was just right and it's a surprise to think that somebody from just across the river should become a main backer of the club."

The club is always keen to attract new sponsors and, with the move to the new ground at Cheltenham Road having received a welcome boost this week and the side's progress into the second qualifying round of the FA Cup, now is as good as a time as any to get on board.

So, if you want to play a small part in helping the town's football club progress then give Brian a ring on 07770 988660 and he will be only too pleased to hear from you.