Jarvis Sponsorship 'Biggest Ever'

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 02/05/2003

GRIMSBY Town have signed what has been described as a 'life-saving' three-year sponsorship deal with construction and maintenance giants Jarvis. The new deal is worth a major six-figure sum and includes promotion incentives as the club seek to regain First Division status.

This will place a great deal of pressure on manager Paul Groves and the squad knowing that their performances will bring even more much needed cash to the club.

The deal, The biggest in the history of the club, was announced at a Blundell Park press conference this afternoon and the new strip was unveiled including a new Juventus-like home strip which will be on show on Sunday against Brighton in Sunday's home TV game.

New away colours were also unveiled designed in Jarvis' corporate colours with a grey strip replacing the all-amber strip.

Reporting on the press conference, the Grimsby Telegraph quoted Tony Richardson the club's commercial manager "This deal is a lifesaver for the club," said Tony who has been working on the link-up since last September.

"We've always had to battle to get anything but Jarvis have been first class. This deal has been a dream. Without it I think we all know what could have happened to Grimsby Town."

"It's one of the biggest income streams the club has and I never thought I'd be signing a deal as big as this for Grimsby Town. Dixons was big for us, but this has just been wham wham. It's a first division sponsorship package and that's where we want to be."

Jarvis have been executive box holders at Blundell Park for the past two seasons and it appears that the tie-up with the Mariners came about through financial controller Steve Venney who originates from Grimsby and is a regular at Town matches.

The new strip goes on sale from Saturday and is expected to be a big hit with fans and the club have borrowed largely from the designs used by Italian giants Juventus.

Town have ended their association with Avec replacing them with GTSports - an in-house leisure brand.

Tony Richardson referred also to the Dixon's sponsorship saying "I want to make a special thanks to Simon and Paul at Dixons for five fantastic years. They've been brilliant for this club and still are. If they ever want to come to a game they are more than welcome." END

Billo: "One of the great things about this sponsorship is that Grimsby have joined forces with the largest company of its kind in the UK and the sponsorship was achieved in house by the club's own staff.

This is excellent work by Tony Richardson and staff and it will mean that Grimsby Town's commercial income will continue to be a major part of the clubs income and often equals or exceeds the commercial income of much bigger clubs than Grimsby.

For a club recently relegated, this sponsorship is a major coup for Town and could herald a new chapter in the future success of the Mariners. With the new share issue and this sponsorship, Grimsby Town's income has received a very hefty boost after losing almost a million pounds due to relegation.

Jarvis Facilities has many arms but its biggest is Jarvis Rail which has offices in Grimsby. It is the largest infrastructure maintenance and renewals companies in the UK, with 6,000 employees and a turnover in excess of £400 million per annum.

Jarvis Rail owns 60% of the UK's on track and electrification machines and has its own plant maintenance resources.

Its main activities are the planned and responsive maintenance of 8,000km of track in the UK (together with associated bridges, signalling, level crossings and line side vegetation management), plus the renewal of around 20,000km of track.

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