Sheffield Wednesday News 24/7Writer: Auckland Owl 
Date:Tuesday February 10 2009
Time: 8:30AM
UK time is: 02:24:40
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Owls Donate Shirt Sponsorship
Sheffield Wednesday today became the first Championship club to donate its shirt sponsorship to a charitable cause.
Following the lead of Spanish giants Barcelona (who support Unicef) and top Premier League club Aston Villa (who are associated with the Acorn Children's Hospice), Owls chairman Lee Strafford today announced that the club's shirt sponsorship for the next two seasons will go to The Children's Hospital, Sheffield and its charity.
Strafford told the official web site: 'We are proud to say loud and clear that Sheffield Wednesday wants to break the current football mould by getting away from the perception that football is just about money. Bringing together key stakeholders in Sheffield to drive local and national value is a key part of our strategy.'
'Certainly, a commercial shirt sponsorship deal can be very lucrative. However, we feel that there is much more value in supporting an organisation within our city that provides a vital service to people in need, not just to those in our own region but to children across the country. It is vital that that we, as a celebrated football club with a strong heritage, play a responsible role in the community which surrounds us.'
Children's Hospital chief executive Chris Sharrat was pleased with the approach from the Owls: 'This sponsorship represents an outstanding offer of support by Sheffield Wednesday for the work that the hospital and our charity do and the great many children and their families from all across the country that we see every day. To have our name across the Wednesday shirt will raise awareness of our hospital across the country and indeed around the world. It also gives us a fantastic opportunity to work together with the club to use the pull of football to introduce exciting health initiatives with children in the communities across the city region.'
Amazing news: it can only benefit the Owls, the charity and the community in general and is a strong and clear sign that the Owls chairman is confident of his other sources of funding.
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Your Comments
If you ask me giving away however much money that is worth is a clear indication that the board has confidence that new invest is imminent. (For BFL - imminent means soon!)
Radon Barrier
Fantastic idea and I agree RadonBarrier, it seems they're confident of money soon based on this news alone. My only concern, and it's a materialistic and shallow one, is what their logo will look like on our beloved shirt - I only hope it's not in the same league as the good old Chupa Chup days - that was an embarrassment. I understand this is symbolic and carries much more reason and purpose, but aesthetically I fear it'll look awful!!
On a more positive note, for the first time in a long time it feels as though we have a bright future ahead of us os my hat is tipped firmly in Big Bri's direction for the awesome work he's done for SWFC.
GameBurton07
Great News! Both on the 'sign of investment a commin' and the fact that Wednesday is showing this support for the community. The Children's Hospital was a great help for our son in his early days. I couldn't be more happy with Laws, Strafford, and the whole outfit. What a turnaround from just a few months ago! It makes me proud to be Wednesday.
YankeeOwl
Well done Wednesday, fantastic news
johnnywalker69
what a great gesture, well done mr strafford. The good news just keeps coming.....
Norman
Having been a "guest" of the Children's hospital (for about three months) many years ago I know first-hand the good work they do, so this is a very worthwhile cause for the club to be involved with. Yet again, another positive coming out of S6. Well done LS et al.
US Owl
Great move but when i first heard it this morning i thought they were donating the money received from sponsors to the children's hospital which may have raised more money.
brinsworthowl
Well done. Owls!
herringthorpe
WOW! This make me even prouder to be a wednesdayite.
owlswfc
very clever thats all i'm saying.
bladesforlife1889
one way of seeing and selling more wendy shirts - that strafford's not as thick as he looks. Honnest opinion.... its an amasing charity very close to my heart and many others... but i just carnt help but think that this is a sly publicity stunt. they are expecting pulling substancial finance from this hence the offer.
bladesforlife1889
did nt think about the investment comin in when i herd about the shirt sponsors,but i still thought it was a good gesture anyway,the thing is i trust mr stafford already to do his best 4 the club,so even making no money on the sponsor i just belive things are turning to gold or (blue and white) keep goin lee great job
donnyowl
moonpig you are so full of sh£t,how do they expect to pull finance from a chairty,our chairman is nt like yours,its not all about money suing teams and players for greed,thats your tin pot club not ours
donnyowl
BFL answer me this question, how much NATIONAL publicity has this generated already ?
Skeggy Owl
"A sly publicity stunt" - I dunno, bfl, up until this point, despite the fact you are a supporter of the team I hate, I had credited you with an ounce of decency. But to knock anyone (never mind that it's Wednesday in this case) who passes up the opportunity to bank a couple of hundred thousand quid and gives a charity national exposure instead.. words fail me.
Maybe you're just irritated that just at the moment, the positive press is all going Wednesday's way? Still no excuse for that kind of comment. It's sad. So are you.
Auckland Owl
auckland!!!!!!! do you honnestly think that a club with 30m+ in debt and a good chance of going into admin if a investor isnt found very quick, could humbley just pass off the chance of a shirt sponsor deal?? this is a 2 deal sponsorship and would have probably brought in around 1m for this period. no level headed person could actually think that wendy would not do this unless there was an ulteria motive behind it. for god sake come on and stop trying to make people look bad for saying what they feel. i'm not trying to be funny just stating a bloody fact. if it benefits the childrens hospital thatn i'm all for it but i feel this is going to benefit wendy a hell of a lot more through shirt sales especially, corporate affairs and advertisement.
bladesforlife1889
I have no problem with you thinking we've passed up a shirt deal because we've got investment coming, because that's probably true. I have a problem with you saying it's a sly publicity stunt.
Auckland Owl
AO you know what, if it had been McPig that had thought of doing this they would be shouting it from the rooftops and nominating him for a Nobel prize. It all boils down to jealousy plain and simple, and if they cant handle it then tough ****e.
Skeggy Owl
auckland - i do think it is a sly publicity stunt because that is what it looks like. if it helps the charity then its all worth while but i think wendy are in it for 2 reasons and thats the publicity and hopefully the money that follows. skeg - i would have thought exactlly the same if it had been us, the club that is doing this is irrelevant!!
bladesforlife1889
Sorry my truffle sniffing friend, I think you should let your backside do the talking because it would make more sense.
Skeggy Owl
in my opinions there is no better charity than the childrens hospital!! and i don't want this to be USED to raise a clubs profile or to rake in a substancial amount of money because of desperate times.
bladesforlife1889
thats right skegpig - back with the insults
bladesforlife1889
So, any regular money-grabbing chairman (mentioning no names) can keep quiet about the fact that shirt sponsorship pretty much has no benefit these days, and take whatever money is on offer anyway. Strafford could have done that, but he didn't. I know you'd have been much happier if the story had been 'Owls chairman could have afforded to give money to charity but sold his soul and took the corporate dollar anyway'. Yes, we'll sell more shirts, yes, it gives us publicity. But why is that 'sly'? Why does it automatically have to be a cynical move, just because it's Wednesday (because lets face it if any other club had done this you wouldn't give a stuff)? It's an enterprising thought provoking genius idea which, along with the recent review of ticket pricing, student tickets, the beamback, the openness and the morale boosting at S6 is making, for once, your glutinous chairman and his PR department look ever so old fashioned and well, a bit slow. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, because the blue and white revolution is here.
Auckland Owl
Surprise surprise bfl has to come on and put a negative slant on this, you should be ashamed of yourself bfl.
johnnywalker69
well done Lee once again and well done to wednesday, also well doen bfl for showing once again why everyone even people outside sheffield refers to you as the pigs
wesp
no i didnt johnny, now forget about it
bladesforlife1889
i'm gonna put my neck on the chopping board here and say (in my opinion) that BFL didnt actually say anything too out of context from reading the comments above. If he would've said "its a WISE publicity stunt" then it wouldn't have sounded like a jealous swipe. I just think the word sly upset a few people because Strafford is genuinely trying so hard to create a positive future for the owls. Tudgay!!!!! what a peach!!!
Norman
norman - i really appreciate that thanks mate. for the record strafford is doing a great job, no question about it. you lot are taking a leaf out of our book regards to match ticketing offers. it starting to look better for you now - but i think some of the comments are over the top but waheyyy... we are all football suporters living in optimism and hope.. its what we all do and it would be crap if it was any different. Norman thanks again you didnt have to say anything but you did and that makes you stand out.
bladesforlife1889
forget about what? ;)
johnnywalker69
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