Club Merchandise Announcement
Clyde director, Bobby Gracey spoke to www.clydefc.co.uk today to outline a new direction with regards to the club’s retail operations.
“I am delighted to announce that we have agreed an exclusive three-year commercial relationship with Only Sports,” Bobby said. “Only Sports will manage the sale of Clyde FC replica shirts, fans’ merchandise and Joma branded goods – all of which will proudly be displaying the Clyde badge.
“This relationship with Only Sports has been agreed for an initial three-year period and allows the club, in future seasons, to consider other high quality manufacturers such as Puma and Hummel. The club will retain full control of all official Clyde FC retail items that will be available for sale and we are looking forward to assisting Only Sports in launching an exclusive and extensive range of Clyde products in the weeks and months ahead. We have also agreed a demanding service level agreement which will ensure a first class service is delivered to all fans of The Bully Wee.
“Early discussions, specifically with Joma and Hummel, have also indicated that these sports companies may look to sponsor and promote some of our players which will further benefit the club and the players alike.
“Our decision to essentially outsource our retail sales to Only Sports coincides with operational match day alterations enforced upon the club at Broadwood Stadium by North Lanarkshire Leisure (NLL). That said, I am pleased to confirm that we are working with NLL to ensure that, as a club, we continue to offer high quality official Clyde FC merchandise on match days. More details in relation to the location of our match day shop will be provided shortly, although at this stage it is suspected that we will be granted the area adjacent to the pie stall where lottery tickets are also sold.
“At a commercial level, our relationship with Only Sports will result in the club receiving revenue which is approximately five times greater than the income previously associated with running our match day shop. Once the detail of the financial arrangements was presented at board level it was unanimously accepted as a great opportunity for the club and turns a cost centre into a profit centre.
“On behalf of the club, I would also like place on record our sincere thanks to Ian Roberts and The Supporters’ Trust for their great work in recent years, ensuring that, in our most difficult financial times as a club, we had a club shop to be proud of. I am also delighted to share that discussions are ongoing between Ian Roberts and Only Sports to maintain his commercial involvement in our future endeavours.
“In addition to match day sales, Only Sports are currently building a bespoke Clyde FC retail website which will be linked to directly from our own official website. Further details will follow once the site is live.
“I hope that supporters will agree this is another fantastic step in the financial recovery of our club. I urge all Clyde fans to support this commercial partnership with Only Sports and to provide them with a huge ‘Bully Wee welcome’ when you meet their staff at Broadwood.”