We are delighted to announce a shirt partnership with Acorns Children's Hospice that will see the hospice name carried on team shirts for the 2008/9 season.

The relationship between Aston Villa Football Club and Acorns began through the Club's support of the children's hospice over two years ago.

Since then, players and staff have had the opportunity to learn about the organization through meeting children, parents and nurses as well as Acorns' CEO, David Strudley, and other key members of staff.

It is through these very personal connections that our relationship has evolved to the point where we approached Acorns about becoming a partner and appearing on our match day shirt.

As is the case with all clubs in the Premiership and beyond, Aston Villa is in pursuit of lucrative commercial sponsors. Conscious of ticket prices and fan expectation we are constantly benchmarking ourselves both regionally and nationally. What's more, we are aware that new stadia are driving-up expectations for match-day hospitality and again we are striving to react with one eye on tradition and the other on progress.

But Aston Villa's history and heritage remain fundamental values that cannot be ignored and all these factors shaped our internal expectations regarding the sponsorship value of our shirt and the esteem in which we hold and cherish whatever symbol or message appears on it.

We regard this partnership as more important and more valuable than any commercial opportunity presented to us.

Our Strategy

Aston Villa is first and foremost a football club. All supporters of the game know that Aston Villa has enjoyed success for more than a century, winning virtually every honour possible in English and European football. We remain determined to retain the historical links and bonds that have existed with significant areas of Birmingham and we see our partnership with Acorns as a central way of doing so. We also believe that economic benefits for the club can be derived from this partnership.

Traditional for-profit businesses will understand our motivation for supporting Acorns and will react positively toward the club and Acorns in terms of their desire to be associated with the partnership.

Implementation

Aston Villa and Acorns are designing a series of initiatives and events that we believe will inform and celebrate the partnership on a local and national level. They are intended to give supporters, staff and players the opportunity to learn about and support Acorns work and their broader mission. The goal of course is to provide significant value and assistance to further the efforts and good work of Acorns.

Conclusion

To some extent, placing Acorns on our match day shirt is an experiment. But it is already an involvement with which we, as an organisation, feel increasingly positive. It is our hope that we are able to introduce this partnership to new and existing business relationships which will generate economic value to support the Club's competitive ambitions and, at the same time giving a truly wonderful organisation a significant platform from which to touch more people.