Sponsoring Worcester City FC

After a hectic week in Strasbourg, I drove back Thursday to get back into my Birmingham office on Friday. Friday is a day of catching up with paper work and getting back into UK time.

My weekend is also busy! With Liverpool not being at home this weekend, I am sponsoring local team Worcester City this weekend.

Worcester City play at St. Georges Lane in Worcester and this is my third visit to the Lane this season. The first visit was on a sponsors evening, where I watched Worcester City take on over 50 children in a match – I’ve never seen so many children trying to claim a goal before! It is where I had my picture taken with the Worcester City first team.

My second visit to the Lane came back in September when I sponsored the Worcester City vs Solihull Moors match, where Worcester came out 3-0 winners.

Tomorrow I sponsor the match against Colwyn Bay FC. Worcester City are currently 8^th in the Blue Square North, whilst Colwyn Bay are just 2 points behind them in 9^th.

As a Liverpool fan I feel an affinity with Worcester City football club. Worcester City beat Liverpool in the 1958-1959 FA Cup, and shortly after this defeat Bill Shankley was appointed as manager. This lead to the reshaping of Liverpool football club, and we know the successes Liverpool have enjoyed since.  

Football unites people from all sectors of society, and my football sponsorship scheme I hope has helped some of those clubs who do need the extra financial support. I've paid for all my sponsorships out of my own cash and I get a real buzz out of my local teams doing well. Last time I watched Worcester, Simon Brown who is my sponsored player, had a fantastic game - more of the same please.

Here’s to a great win for Worcester tomorrow – come on you Blues!!

Supporting Football in the West Midlands at Burton Albion

Here I am with my sponsored player Danny Blanchett. It was a fantastic match which ended Burton Albion 3 - AFC Wimbledon 2 

This story was also covered on Burton Albions website  http://www.burtonalbionfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10950~2530630,00.html

Dons are on their way back

I have blogged before about my love of football and Liverpool FC. As a supporter I was fortunate enough to have witnessed some of their greatest triumphs live. One of their almost triumphs was the FA Cup Final of 1988 against Wimbledon where they lost 1-0 and the chance of a second ‘double’ in three years. I was standing behind the goal that John Aldridge missed the penalty; my heart sank through the ground.

Although disappointed at the result, I was pleased for Wimbledon who had only been a league team for eleven years and had a meteoric rise to the (old) First Division. It was a triumph for football. Little did I know at the time, such incredible feats of football over money would be confined to dreams. Indeed, Wimbledon was the last non-big club to win the FA Cup.

 A year after their triumph, Wimbledon lost their ground in Wimbledon and was forced to share with Crystal Palace. Wimbledon suffered with the worst attendances in the top flight; to survive they had to sell their best players.   The club was sold and the new owners decided to move the club from its roots in South London to Milton Keynes. The fans protests were ignored by the Football Association who sold out football by agreeing to the move and change of name to Milton Keynes Dons.

The fans quite rightly refused to support the ‘new’ club who were falling through the leagues as fast as ‘they’ once climbed them. The fans formed AFC Wimbledon based in South London. Remarkably, they have risen through the non-league pyramid at a unprecedented rate and are now second in the Conference, one league below the Football League. Today went I went to see them play at Kidderminster today, Kiddy won the match 2-0. I hope in spite of this, AFC Wimbledon get promoted and climb the leagues once again. What happened to Wimbledon was a disgrace to football and highlighted what sham money has made football.