Wrexham AFC has teamed up with Europe’s top trailer maker to clinch a hat-trick of sponsorship deals as it celebrates the anniversary of its best ever season.
Ifor Williams Trailers sponsor Wrexham Football Club for the third consecutive year. Pictured: Richard Hughes HR Manager for Ifor Williams Trailers and Wrexham FC Commercial Manager Geoff Scott with Wrexham Footballers Emmanuele Smith and Shaun Pearson
The club revealed Ifor Williams Trailers have agreed to be their main front of shirt sponsor for the third year running.
They’re hoping the news will help spur them on to promotion back to the football league exactly 40 years after Wrexham won a place in the old Division Two and reached the quarter finals of the FA and League Cups in 1978.
Once again the distinctive Ifor Williams Trailers logo will be on the front of the home and away shirts and the new kit is expected to be launched in the next few weeks.
According to the club, the partnership was a perfect fit because of the iconic trailer firm’s community spirit which matched their own ethos as a club that’s owned and run by the fans.
The company, which has factories in Cynwyd, Corwen, Sandycroft and Deeside Industrial Estate, has a global network of distributors as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.
Richard Hughes, the human resources manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, is a life-long Wrexham fan, and was delighted at the company’s decision to support the club again.
He was seven years of age when his father took him to watch a match at the Racecourse for the first time and was a regular during 1977-78 season when Wrexham were promoted into what is now the Championship.
According to Richard, he’s hoping it will be a case of history repeating itself this year with Wrexham hovering in the play-off places.
He said: “Wrexham AFC isn’t a money no object premier league club owned by a mega-rich oligarch or American business tycoons, it is fan-owned and community-focused and that’s why we are involved.
“We have many die-hard Wrexham AFC fans among our staff at Ifor Williams Trailers, including season ticket holders and Wrexham Supporters’ Trust members.
“Most people in North Wales, even those supporting the football giants like Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City, have a corner of their heart reserved for Wrexham AFC.
“Football is about health, and teamwork and pride in sporting achievement, and that’s why it’s really important that we have a professional football club in North Wales.
“Wrexham AFC has a brilliant track record for youth sport with boys and girls teams, and also for disabled football, which is another reason we are proud to partner the club again this year.”
It was a sentiment echoed by the club’s commercial manager, Geoff Scott, who hailed the agreement as the “perfect partnership”.
He said: “The agreement has worked really well in the last two seasons, particularly because Ifor Williams Trailers is a really community-minded company, and we’re a community-based club.
“We also have a world-wide fan base so wherever there is an Ifor Williams Trailers distributor you’ll probably find a Wrexham fan.
“Closer to home, Wrexham is football mad town and we’ve got wide support from across North Wales.
There to celebrate the new agreement with Ifor Williams Trailers was club captain Shaun Pearson, 28, who said: “It’s obviously great news for the club and hopefully we can finish the season strongly and get what we all want.
“The team spirit is fantastic under Andy Davies who in charge until the end of the season .
“Everybody is pulling in the same direction and hopefully that can be enough to drag us over the line to win promotion. That’s what we’re all dreaming of.”
Centre half Manny Smith, 30, who is on his second spell at the Racecourse, was equally delighted.
He said: “What I like about Wrexham is that it’s very much a community club. The whole town is football crazy and everyone is pulling in the same direction.
“We’re well-placed at the moment, not too many points from the top and we’ve been in the playoffs all season.
“We’ve got a few games left and it’s just a matter of picking up as many points as we can. I think we’ll be equipped for it. We just need to convert a few of those draws into wins.
“The support of an iconic company like Ifor Williams Trailers is a massive boost for us. It’s a great vote of confidence at a crucial time.”
