Chesterfield FC sack head of communications after fake raffle fiasco
Chesterfield Football Club has sacked the head of its communications and marketing department after he organised a false raffle.
Kevin Fitzgerald has left the Club today after what a director called “a massive error of judgement.”
The sacking comes after the Spirites ran a competition for one fan to join the team on their pre-season tour of Hungary.
The Club claimed that a Surrey-based Chesterfield fan, James Higgins, had won the competition. However, a statement on their website – which has since been deleted – said that he couldn’t make the trip because he was ill.
This led to fans trying to unsuccessfully contact Higgins, leading to allegations that he didn’t exist and that the Club had invented the persona because the competition had been unpopular with fans.
Kevin Fitzgerald
Chesterfield FC then offered a refund to the four fans that had entered the raffle.
A statement from director & company secretary Ashley Carson on the Club’s website read: “I am still reeling from the shameful incident that has attracted nationwide headlines for the football club for all the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, Carson has assured supporters that neither the matchday 50/50 draw or Spire Lotto are in any way connected with the incident.
He said: “Spire Lotto is controlled by Tower Lotteries on our behalf and the matchday 50/50 draw is administered by Janice Kew and her team.
“I am the holder of the Small Society Lotteries Licence on behalf of the club and I want to assure everyone that the club is 100 per cent legally compliant.”
