Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The World’s Most Expensive Link

I am delighted to welcome another new sponsor onboard. It is my friends at The World’s Most Expensive Link who have been with me right since the first Shirt journey in 2010. Thanks again!

The World’s Most Expensive Link is easy to own.

It simply always goes to the highest bidder. Why not add your link now for as little as a £1?

If you are outbid at anytime and knocked off the top spot you can top up your link to get higher up or back on top.

For Example, if somebody put on a link and it was topped up by £1 per week, a second link added 1 year later would need to pay £53 to get above the first link.

Links don’t devalue over time but will get lower in the list if higher value links are added.

If your links falls from the top spot it will still get long term recognition on Hall of Fame

Your link is guaranteed to stay live until at least December 31st 2022.

We encourage all participants to link to www.theworldsmostexpensivelink.com from their website.

The site is self-publicising in that the more people that participate the more people know about it.

Every time someone else joins the site they will see your link till at least December 31st 2022.

We send out a monthly newsletter by email to promote the site.

I was delighted to be sent this today from my friends at West Ham. I think it is a fantastic initiative and one well worth supporting. Congratulations and respect to everybody who brought these products to market.

To read more and order click here

The Sunday Mirror yesterday published the results of a poll among fans to find the Best Shirts Ever. Quite obviously, this was going to be very subjective but nevertheless the results were interesting.

Full list:
1 Napoli 90/91
2 AC Milan 88/90
3 Manchester Utd
4 Sampdoria 90/92
5 Juve 83/86
6 Real Madrid 95/96
7 Newcastle United 95/97
8 Barcelona 76/78
9 Ajax 94/95

A few moments later a fellow member of a favourite Facebook group, English Football of the 1980s, kindly linked to a 2015 poll which had some interesting alternatives and chose the West Germany shirt of 1988-1991. It was indeed an iconic shirt and was the very last shirt designed for West Germany pre-reunification in 1990 and the one they wore at Italia 1990.

Of course, this is really the best ever!

I was really excited to see the first posters for the challenge today. Great work by Dave Baldwin at Papilios Creative

Delighted to say that the boys at Lpool Pins jumped at the chance of being sponsors of the TukTuk challenge. They say, “We are match going fans creating LFC inspired pin badges for the fans. All products & sticker packs are available at http://lpoolpins.bigcartel.com. We offer worldwide shipping. All pin badges cost £5 plus postage.” I was hugely impressed with the quality and price of the pins and if they ever do them for my Gillingham I will be getting those too!

They are sponsoring the 10 miles into and out of their beloved Anfield. They continued, “We are very pleased to sponsor part of the challenge as the charity is close to our hearts. Hopefully it will make a difference to others in need.” You will find them on Instagram and Facebook too.

Welcome onboard.

Archbishop Paul Gallagher meets Rehman Chishti MP.

Rehman Chishti, the Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham, and a close friend of the club, has met Archbishop Paul Gallagher, with a Gills shirt to be delivered to Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church. 

The MP is in Vatican City for a few days and, prior to his visit, was given a couple of replica shirts by Chairman Paul Scally.about:blankout.stream powered by ADITION

Archbishop Paul Gallagher is the Vatican City’s secretary for relations with states, and has held this position for nearly six years.

Chairman Paul Scally said: “Rehman had told me he was heading to the Vatican so we made sure we got our hands on a couple of shirts for him to deliver. We look forward to seeing the photographs!”

• Gillingham Football Club News

On Saturday the 23 March 2021, Steve Hall, the owner of www.TheShirt2010.co.uk ,will start off on a new 1000 mile tour of England.

Steve is a seasoned traveller – 50 countries, 700 flights – but this trip will be  unique. Is he back in the saddle and cycling? No. Is he running? No. Horseback/canoes? Dream trips but not this time. No, this one will be in a tuktuk! He will be back visiting the many football clubs in England he loves so much! Yes, the motorised rickshaw much beloved of travellers in Thailand and India will be visiting Old Trafford and Villa Park, Elland Road and St James …. and many, many more! 

So, what is this journey? Why is he doing it?  There are two main reasons. The number one priority is to raise money for Prostate Cancer  Like all charities, Prostate Cancer is having a torrid time during the Covid 19 crisis. He is keen to raise many thousands of pounds for the charity and has set himself various targets. The first is to get £10,000 to them asap. He has many innovative sponsorship options starting at £1. Yes, for just £1 you can sponsor a mile of the journey, for £50 you can sponsor his visit to your favourite ground where hopefully you can meet him. Anyone who sponsors a stadium gets a signed print and a jigsaw puzzle of the ground. If you can persuade him that your club is better than his beloved Gillingham FC …. you can get your money back. Tip! Nobody has persuaded him in 55 + years. He has auctions and raffles planned and every single pound will go direct to Prostate Cancer with not a penny taken out for expenses.  

Secondly, it’s a tour of the UK to see what football 2021 is all about. It has been a crazy decade. He’d say that Sky TV gets stronger, more games are televised, the top teams get wealthier and the rest are left to survive. Is that the reality? Let’s see. Steve has been a football fanatic for nearly 60 years and is keen to see what football really means to everybody. In 2010 Steve did a similar journey but that time on a pedal cycle That was a journey of four months and 5000 kilometers. Whilst he was on the journey he lost all his possessions in a storage centre fire and was left for dead by a hit-and-run driver near Sunderland. Next year’s tour looks a little easier! 

He is still tidying the route but it will be a figure of eight from Brentford FC in West London to Southampton up via Cheltenham and the Midlands to the North West. He will cross the Pennines and continue to Sunderland and Newcastle before the long trek back to London via Yorkshire the Midlands and the Home Counties. It would be nice to finish at Wembley or maybe Brentford or maybe his local team, Deportivo Galicia at Heathrow. All will be finalised soon.

Please follow him as he travels his journey through England. The journey will be charted daily on www.ThisIsSpain.info and www.TheShirt2010.co.uk and will be shared on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Empire Avenue and many other social media channels. Previous trips were always well covered by local radio and the printed media. Obviously, this makes it a great opportunity for businesses great and small to become involved.  He will be announcing corporate sponsorship packages in the next few days starting from just £5. In 2009/2010 he helped Bjorn Heidenstrom with his social media on the epic cycle ride from Oslo to South Africa. 35,000 kms, 10 months in the cycle ….. and 2 million page views! He will be pleased to show you how you can showcase your business. Please, shout if you have any suggestions – now is the time to lock them into the itinerary 

At this point he would like to thank a group of very special people who put their faith in him when the whole trip was little more than a coffee-inspired idea. They promised to sponsor and support, help and advise. Stand up Keith Nicol at PhotoVideoSpain, Dave Baldwin at  Papilios Creative and all his friends at Go Wild Magazine, Vibe Electric,The World’s Most Expensive link and, of course, all at TukTukUK without whose help this journey could never progress.      

92 Club Poster

I was delighted to get my annual email from xxxxx advising me of the launch of the new and much-updated 92 club poster.

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The posters will be sent as from 30/9. Full details at www.footballgroundmap.com

Tick off the grounds you’ve been to with our 92 Club & National League poster – fully updated for the 2020/2021 season.

• Tick off the grounds you’ve visited and track your progress towards completing the 92 Club and National Leagues
• More detailed map, including all major motorways and more details on zoom circles
• Double-sided poster, dual branded as 92 Club and Football Ground Map
• New 92 Club additions – Holker Street (Barrow), Wetherby Road (Harrogate Town) and Brentford Community Stadium (Brentford)
• New National League additions – LNER Community Stadium (York City), Boston Community Stadium (Boston United), Meadow Park (Gloucester City)
• Data split up by divisions – track your progress towards completing each individual league
• A1 wall poster 60cm x 84cm (that’s pretty big) made from 170gsm paper (that’s pretty thick)
• Perfect for any dedicated football fan or groundhopper
• A fantastic educational gift for kids

Introducing our brand new 92 Club and National League wall poster – fully updated with a brand new look for the 2020/2021 season.

The poster comes complete with a refreshed design and even more detailed team shirts. We’ve also split the list of clubs into individual leagues, so you can track your progress through completing each individual division.

Not only that, we’ve also added new star ratings to each ground, so you can see what our members think about the stadium and the atmosphere.

The poster is A1 in size (60cm x84cm) and looks great hung on any office or bedroom wall. It’s also a great educational resource for kids, helping them to learn about geography and the world around them, all based on a subject matter they’re interested in.

SIDE A: 92 CLUB

One side of the poster features all of the grounds in the 92 Club, including newcomers Holker Street (Barrow) and Wetherby Road (Harrogate Town), as well as Brentford’s new Community Stadium.

The 92 Club is fully updated with all of the promotions and relegations last season as well as all the new kits for 2020. This side features all teams and stadiums from the Premier League, Championship, League 1 and League 2.

The poster also features a detailed stats panel including essential information such as:

• Team, ground and division
• A beautifully illustrated shirt
• Year opened
• Ground capacity
• Record attendance
• % of footballgroundmap.com users who have been there
• Atmosphere star rating from our users
• Overall star rating from our users

SIDE B: NATIONAL LEAGUE

The reverse side features all 67 stadiums from steps 5 and 6 on the English pyramid – the National League, National League North and National League South. This year’s list of grounds includes new stadiums for York City (LNER Community Stadium), Boston United (Community Stadium) and Gloucester City’s return to Meadow Park.

Like the 92 Club side, the National League poster features a wealth of information, including:

• Team, ground and division
• A beautifully illustrated shirt
• Year opened
• Ground capacity
• Record attendance
• % of footballgroundmap.com users who have been there
• Atmosphere star rating from our users
• Overall star rating from our users

FULLY UPDATED FOR THE 2020/2021 SEASON

Our map has been fully updated for the 2020/2021 season. Changes include:

• An update look with a new colour pallette
• More detailed design including motorways and country boundaries
• Dual branded as footballgroundmap.com and 92club.co.uk (our sister site)
• All shirts updated for the new season
• Stats fully updated from our 150,000 users
• Leeds (Elland Road), West Brom (Hawthorns) and Fulham (Craven Cottage) promoted to the Premier League
• Coventry (St Andrew’s), Rotherham (New York Stadium) and Wycombe (Adams Park) promoted to the Championship
• Swindon (County Ground), Crewe (Gresty Road), Plymouth (Home Park) and Northampton (Sixfields) promoted to League One
• Barrow (Holker Street) and Harrogate Town (Wetherby Road) promoted to League Two
• King’s Lynn Town (The Walks), Altrincham (Moss Lane), Wealdstone (Grosvenor Vale) and Weymouth (Bob Lucas Stadium) promoted to the National League
• New grounds added for Brentford (Community Stadium), York (LNER Community Stadium), Boston (Community Stadium) and Gloucester City (Meadow Park)
• Bury (Gigg Lane) removed 🙁

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Footballgroundmap.com is owned and created by Rob Clarkson, a 30-something football fan from the red half of Sheffield. He says, “I love football, especially away days.

I created footballgroundmap.com as a Facebook app in 2008. Originally intended to just cover the 4 main English leagues, the sites has grown to tracking almost 4,000 ground locations from every corner of the globe.

Keeping the site updated takes a lot of time and I hope brings pleasure to the thousands of fans who travel to away games up and down the country every week.

So, if you use the site and like what you see, feel free to click the Donate button and buy me a pint – from one football fanatic to another.

Cheers,
Rob”

Hibs 2020/2021 Home

I cannot claim to be an avid follower of football in Scotland so I apologise for letting this one slip through. They are the latest team to support the NHS by proudly wearing the logo of the health service on their chest.

I saw them against Rangers today (2-2, the first time Rangers had conceded a league goal in six months!) and looked up the story. Respect to Hibs.

Hibernian FC is today delighted to announce that the club will proudly bear the words “Thank You NHS” on the front of our new shirts when next season does get underway.

The club decided to take the opportunity to express the thanks of the entire Hibernian and football community to our magnificent health service for the heroic, selfless and dedicated efforts of its staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

The club has spoken to senior management at both NHS Scotland and NHS Lothian, our suggestion has been warmly received, and your club will be working in partnership with NHS Lothian and Hibernian Community Foundation to deliver a layer of meaningful communications, engagement and community service.

We are further delighted to announce that our first home league game will be “Thank You NHS Day” and we will welcome hundreds of NHS staff along as our guests.

The words of thanks will adorn our new home shirts, and supporters will be asked to pay the sum of £5 to have the transfer applied, with all profits being donated to our local NHS charity, Edinburgh & Lothians Health Foundation.

Our mocked-up picture shows how the new kit will look with the message applied. The kit is available now and the orders will be fulfilled when the strips are delivered to us in July.

The club is planning further fundraising throughout the season and expects to hand over a six-figure donation to the NHS charity by the end of the season. In addition, the club is donating a minimum of 100 tickets to NHS staff for all of our home matches, with fans being invited to participate in fundraising to help fund more.

Ronald Gordon, Hibernian Chairman, said: “In sport we celebrate our heroes and our stars. The NHS have shown they are our true heroes and our stars – they have valiantly cared for and nurtured us through the most difficult and challenging health crisis of our lives. Their efforts on behalf of all of us, which still continue today, have been magnificent and Hibernian wants to say thank you and celebrate them in the most meaningful way that we can.

“Additionally, we will be raising money and inviting NHS heroes to our games at Easter Road, and the club and our players will be working with our friends and colleagues at NHS Lothian to deliver a programme of health promotion and community service that will raise awareness and inform our entire community. I’m very proud, because this initiative speaks to the character and purpose of Hibernian Football Club.”

Scotland’s Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, Joe FitzPatrick, said: “The dedicated NHS workforce are under unprecedented pressure as they deal with the impact of the pandemic. I welcome this excellent initiative by Hibernian FC, which will allow the club and its supporters to say thank you to the NHS. This generous gesture – which will be supported by further fundraising activity – will also see tickets given to NHS staff for home games, and a donation to Edinburgh & Lothians Health Foundation. As well as joining Hibs in thanking the NHS staff, I applaud the club for this wonderful idea – it highlights the positive impact football can have on a range of issues.”

Tim Davison, Chief Executive of NHS Lothian, also welcomed the idea, saying; “This is a big-hearted move from Hibernian Football Club and I know that all our staff and patients will greatly appreciate the generosity and thoughtfulness of this wonderful gesture.  We are proud of our amazing teamwork at NHS Lothian too, so are delighted and grateful that a club with such strong local community roots should honour us in this way.”

Esther Robertson, Interim Chair of Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation, the official charity fund of NHS Lothian, said: “This is a lovely idea and will help us fund more initiatives to support the wellbeing of patients and staff during these challenging times. Our funds provide extras which core NHS funding cannot be used for, such as providing tablets to patients to help them keep in touch with loved ones while in hospital, providing recliner chairs in rest rooms for hard working staff and funding art activity packs to help reduce anxiety and boredom in patients while in hospital for extended periods. Initiatives like these make a big difference to patients and staff, particularly when the going gets tough.”

Leeann Dempster, Chief Executive, said: “Our front-of-shirt sponsorship is our most visible and valuable sponsorship opportunity and we thought this season of all seasons we needed to show our appreciation to the NHS. As Ron said, we want to say thanks and we want to help raise awareness and also raise funds for good health causes. We know our supporters will rally behind this in their thousands.

“The club and Community Foundation have a proud track record of working with NHS Lothian through our unique GameChanger initiative, and we will be combining to create a programme for matchdays and non-matchdays to help tackle some of the health and social issues we will see arise post-Covid-19.

“For the avoidance of any doubt, this initiative does not cost the public purse one penny. It has been helped enormously by a small group of supporters who supported us in the idea and we are grateful to them all.”

YOU CAN ORDER THE NEW HIBERNIAN HOME KIT NOW.