""Dougan joining Kettering put us on the back pages but also the front pages with this shirt, this initiative,""
""He was chairman of the PFA [Professional Footballers' Association], he was George Best's partner in crime playing for Northern Ireland and he was a television celebrity.""
""And then he became a celebrity in Kettering.""
""I hit on the idea of getting one company to do the lot," he said. "When I spotted the title for Kettering Tyres KT for Kettering Town I realised I was on a winner if I could get them to do it. "When they agreed I felt I had made a breakthrough.""
Shirt sponsorship created strong brand-team associations and evokes nostalgia among football fans, with companies such as Emirates, T-Mobile, O2, Sharp and Etihad becoming closely identified with clubs and eras. Kettering Town became the first English football club to feature a sponsor's name on its shirt on 24 January 1976, when the club wore Kettering Tyres. The £4,000 deal was secured by player-manager Derek Dougan after he noticed the firm's initials matched Kettering Town. Dougan had high-profile playing and media credentials, which increased attention around the move. The single-sponsor approach replaced match-by-match arrangements and grew into an industry worth hundreds of millions.
Read at www.bbc.com
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