An Open Letter from the Vice Chairman...
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2025 6:53 pm
(There is a slightly longer and more detailed version of this available in the Owners Lounge Forum).
To all part-owners, supporters and friends of our brilliant Club.
As we are, I’m sure, all aware, the Club has been seeking a new Main Club Sponsor for the past 2 months, following the sad demise of our former Club Sponsor Rebel Energy back in April. As the search enters its third month, I thought it pertinent to offer supporters an update.
Rebel’s support over the last couple of years, as has been well documented, was absolutely crucial to the Club’s survival. They hit a new Club record for the Main Club Sponsorship in 2023/24, and eclipsed this in 2024/25, asking for very little in return. It was a gift, really, and allowed us to focus on our energy on stabilising the club both on and off the pitch, giving us a chance to improve the overall business model which we’ve been able to do relatively successfully.
I had little bit more notice than most that Rebel weren’t in a position to renew their sponsorship for the new season and equally, recognised that it was going to be very difficult to find a company to come and fill the sizable hole they would leave behind in the Club’s commercial budget. As a result, we set about forming a commercial ‘team’ to support me in finding a replacement.
We identified three supporters that we thought could help us, with clearly defined roles. We sat down with each of the three to discuss how these roles would work and our vision for them. All three accepted, and filled roles associated with Linkedin management, brand promotion/recognition to try and ensure we have the ability to deliver legitimate return on investment, and a boots-on-the-ground type role. These three supporters joined four board members, myself and Rob (Usher) included, in forming the new Commercial group, and we set to work long before the 2024/25 season had ended.
In the 2 months since, between us we have contacted over 750 businesses. There’s a fair bit of mud slinging here and there, sure, however most of these businesses had been identified in some way as being appropriate. I.e, in the top 100 businesses in Northamptonshire by turnover, local to Rushden, supporter links, previous sponsors. The amount of work being put in by the commercial team on an almost 24/7 basis to ensure that we are targeting the right people and the right businesses has been genuinely phenomenal. As we all know, we have incredible volunteers throughout the Club.
The team has done an amazing job in obtaining leads, hoovering up low hanging fruit (and you should see a lot more perimeter boards around Hayden Road this season) and generally promoting the Club to both local and national businesses. Warm leads on the Main Club Sponsorship have come and gone, but the golden egg still evades us.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned handling the Club’s Commercial activity over the last three years, it’s that it’s heavily relationship based. Members of the board in years gone by grew and fostered relationships with our sponsors at that time, people he knew both professionally as personal contacts and of course those that had reached out from the Club’s fanbase and local area. Likewise I was able to inject some of my own contacts and foster my own relationships with new sponsors, but admittedly, it was quite hard to retain those that pre-dated me for one reason or another. The position the Club was in at that point in time – very openly and publicly struggling – I’m sure wouldn’t have inspired confidence in the Club.
Last week I was chatting with the former CEO of very well-known and well-established Football League Club about how we could improve or tweak our offer, what we could do better, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them. What was really interesting to learn is that actually, even at that level, sponsorship is driven by relationships. By fans being involved in businesses and securing the sponsorship for them. By business owners supporting the club that they support through sponsorship. It’s incredible to think that that’s how it works, the whole way through the pyramid.
What this person also told me is that securing a main club sponsor is typically a 6-month burn. Lots of meetings, lots of schmoozing, lots of relationship building. What they do in 6 months, we are trying to do in 2. We need to do it in 2.
With all of the above being said, I am now reaching out directly to you, the fanbase of AFC Rushden & Diamonds.
The Club’s best chance of securing a Main Club Sponsor for the 2025/26 season and beyond, is by one of you mentioning this opportunity to a decision maker within your business. Explaining what the Club means to you, what it means to the Community, how many people this Club affects in so many ways. Perhaps, even, you ARE the decision maker. Have you ever asked if the business you work for has community funding pots or if they might be interested in supporting a project like this?
The sponsorship with Rebel Energy came because a supporter of the Club simply asked the question of his Director. The decision that supporter made that day, to broach the subject probably more in hope than expectation, saved the Club as you know it, and gave us the chance to put the Club back on the straight and narrow.
As a board we have been putting the building blocks in place behind the scenes, to ensure that we are in a position to genuinely move forward, back to where we belong. We have worked so hard to get ourselves in to this position, but ultimately, failure to obtain a Main Club Sponsor this year leaves us needing to find the money elsewhere.
A full commercial brochure is available upon request, loaded with opportunities. There are a whole host of benefits to the Main Club Sponsorship package which are outlined in this brochure, including pages dedicated to explaining why our Club is worth sponsoring. We are entirely fan-owned, volunteer-run, and a Community Benefit Society. Every penny is accounted for. No directors or shareholders are paid. Every penny goes back in to making our Club as strong as can be, and ultimately, keeping it in existence.
If you have any lead at all – please reach out to me on alex.raspin@afc-diamonds.com, or message me on social media.
We are so close to getting this Club where it needs to be, where it should be, but we really need your help now.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Raspin
Vice Chairman & Commercial Director
To all part-owners, supporters and friends of our brilliant Club.
As we are, I’m sure, all aware, the Club has been seeking a new Main Club Sponsor for the past 2 months, following the sad demise of our former Club Sponsor Rebel Energy back in April. As the search enters its third month, I thought it pertinent to offer supporters an update.
Rebel’s support over the last couple of years, as has been well documented, was absolutely crucial to the Club’s survival. They hit a new Club record for the Main Club Sponsorship in 2023/24, and eclipsed this in 2024/25, asking for very little in return. It was a gift, really, and allowed us to focus on our energy on stabilising the club both on and off the pitch, giving us a chance to improve the overall business model which we’ve been able to do relatively successfully.
I had little bit more notice than most that Rebel weren’t in a position to renew their sponsorship for the new season and equally, recognised that it was going to be very difficult to find a company to come and fill the sizable hole they would leave behind in the Club’s commercial budget. As a result, we set about forming a commercial ‘team’ to support me in finding a replacement.
We identified three supporters that we thought could help us, with clearly defined roles. We sat down with each of the three to discuss how these roles would work and our vision for them. All three accepted, and filled roles associated with Linkedin management, brand promotion/recognition to try and ensure we have the ability to deliver legitimate return on investment, and a boots-on-the-ground type role. These three supporters joined four board members, myself and Rob (Usher) included, in forming the new Commercial group, and we set to work long before the 2024/25 season had ended.
In the 2 months since, between us we have contacted over 750 businesses. There’s a fair bit of mud slinging here and there, sure, however most of these businesses had been identified in some way as being appropriate. I.e, in the top 100 businesses in Northamptonshire by turnover, local to Rushden, supporter links, previous sponsors. The amount of work being put in by the commercial team on an almost 24/7 basis to ensure that we are targeting the right people and the right businesses has been genuinely phenomenal. As we all know, we have incredible volunteers throughout the Club.
The team has done an amazing job in obtaining leads, hoovering up low hanging fruit (and you should see a lot more perimeter boards around Hayden Road this season) and generally promoting the Club to both local and national businesses. Warm leads on the Main Club Sponsorship have come and gone, but the golden egg still evades us.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned handling the Club’s Commercial activity over the last three years, it’s that it’s heavily relationship based. Members of the board in years gone by grew and fostered relationships with our sponsors at that time, people he knew both professionally as personal contacts and of course those that had reached out from the Club’s fanbase and local area. Likewise I was able to inject some of my own contacts and foster my own relationships with new sponsors, but admittedly, it was quite hard to retain those that pre-dated me for one reason or another. The position the Club was in at that point in time – very openly and publicly struggling – I’m sure wouldn’t have inspired confidence in the Club.
Last week I was chatting with the former CEO of very well-known and well-established Football League Club about how we could improve or tweak our offer, what we could do better, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them. What was really interesting to learn is that actually, even at that level, sponsorship is driven by relationships. By fans being involved in businesses and securing the sponsorship for them. By business owners supporting the club that they support through sponsorship. It’s incredible to think that that’s how it works, the whole way through the pyramid.
What this person also told me is that securing a main club sponsor is typically a 6-month burn. Lots of meetings, lots of schmoozing, lots of relationship building. What they do in 6 months, we are trying to do in 2. We need to do it in 2.
With all of the above being said, I am now reaching out directly to you, the fanbase of AFC Rushden & Diamonds.
The Club’s best chance of securing a Main Club Sponsor for the 2025/26 season and beyond, is by one of you mentioning this opportunity to a decision maker within your business. Explaining what the Club means to you, what it means to the Community, how many people this Club affects in so many ways. Perhaps, even, you ARE the decision maker. Have you ever asked if the business you work for has community funding pots or if they might be interested in supporting a project like this?
The sponsorship with Rebel Energy came because a supporter of the Club simply asked the question of his Director. The decision that supporter made that day, to broach the subject probably more in hope than expectation, saved the Club as you know it, and gave us the chance to put the Club back on the straight and narrow.
As a board we have been putting the building blocks in place behind the scenes, to ensure that we are in a position to genuinely move forward, back to where we belong. We have worked so hard to get ourselves in to this position, but ultimately, failure to obtain a Main Club Sponsor this year leaves us needing to find the money elsewhere.
A full commercial brochure is available upon request, loaded with opportunities. There are a whole host of benefits to the Main Club Sponsorship package which are outlined in this brochure, including pages dedicated to explaining why our Club is worth sponsoring. We are entirely fan-owned, volunteer-run, and a Community Benefit Society. Every penny is accounted for. No directors or shareholders are paid. Every penny goes back in to making our Club as strong as can be, and ultimately, keeping it in existence.
If you have any lead at all – please reach out to me on alex.raspin@afc-diamonds.com, or message me on social media.
We are so close to getting this Club where it needs to be, where it should be, but we really need your help now.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Raspin
Vice Chairman & Commercial Director