Redtooth scores with Blades
SHEFFIELD United’s thriving academy, which has produced £25m worth of young talent in recent seasons, is to be sponsored by one of the UK’s leading entertainment providers.
Redtooth – the club’s away kit sponsor for the last campaign – has agreed a two-year deal to take up the naming rights to United’s Academy.
The Shirecliffe venue, which features four full-sized pitches, an indoor pitch, fitness, sports medicine and educational facilities, will be known as the Redtooth Academy.
The Academy has produced a crop of young players in the last decade. Current Premier League stars Phil Jagielka, Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton and Matt Lowton all benefited from the Academy.
Redtooth, established by managing director Martin Green as Hemlock Promotions from an attic at his parents’ home in Sheffield in 1999, has grown to become the largest supplier of pub quizzes to the UK market.
It is the official pub poker partner of Carlsberg and supplies to many of the UK’s major managed pub groups, including Mitchells & Butlers, Marstons, Greene King and Young’s.
It is also one of the top companies in the leased and tenanted sector with clients including Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns taking its weekly paper quizzes.
“We are delighted to become associated with the Academy,” said Green, a lifelong Blades fan.
“We are a growing business with a lot of successful partnerships in the sport and leisure sectors. Our association with Sheffield United reflects this as well as the important role the academy plays in the Sheffield community, where many thousands each year use the facilities.
“Redtooth is already the biggest quiz company in the country, but we need to work hard to maintain our position as a leading entertainment provider in what is a competitive industry.”
Sheffield United chief executive Julian Winter said: “The Academy is a fantastic asset for Sheffield United and to have a well-known brand as Redtooth as a partner positions the club strongly to develop even more talented youngsters for the club on top of the 34 who have already graduated to first team football.”
