GWP Protective offer their support to Salisbury Football Club

GWP Protective are delighted to announce their support for local team Salisbury FC, by helping with the logistics of transporting the teams kit and equipment.

Richard Coombes, General Manager at GWP Protective, met football legend Steve Claridge, now manager at Salisbury FC, to donate aluminium kit skips that are now widely used at Premier League teams for the safe transit of their gear.

The life of Salisbury FC’s hard-working kit man, Mickey Western, will now be much easier thanks to the donation of the kit storage cases.

Also know as “kit skips”, the large containers supplied by GWP Protective will be used for improving the logistics involved with transporting large amounts of kit, boots, training gear and other match day equipment.

Such kit skips have become increasingly popular throughout the footballing pyramid from the premier league to the conference.

Richard Coombes, General Manager at GWP Protective said:

We were absolutely delighted when our local team, and neighbours, Salisbury FC won promotion during their very first season back in the league. We wanted to do whatever we could to help Manager Steve Claridge take the team to promotion again next season and we hope that our donation of these kit boxes will be of benefit

Steve Claridge, manager at Salisbury FC added:

The new kit storage boxes are great I know they will really help with transporting all our kit around. We’re very grateful to GWP for donating them to us

Used extensively throughout professional sport, and becoming exceptionally popular amongst football clubs playing at all levels, aluminium kit skips lend themselves to tackling the problems associated with transporting large amounts of kit across the country, Europe and beyond.

They are lightweight for easy transportation, offer great protection and are easily cleaned. This last point is particularly important when the kit transported is often wet and muddy during the winter months. They are also resistant to water and will keep kit dry from the elements (or keep the mud / moisture in the case when travelling home).

They can also be branded with club or sponsor logos – another key selling point for Premier League clubs when even leaving the team bus is recorded by the media in minute detail and broadcast around the world.

For further information on the kit skips available, please click here.

Salisbury FC has had a long and often tumultuous history. A football club has in fact existed in Salisbury since the late 19th century, although Salisbury FC was formed in 1947, replacing Salisbury Corinthians and the original Salisbury City.

After a largely successful history, witnessing numerous promotions and cup runs, the club first ran into trouble in the 2009 / 2010 season, having been deducted 10 points for entering administration. The players rallied however and finished a creditable mid-table.

Two seasons on and perhaps the high point for the club – a first tie in the third round of the FA Cup that ended in a narrow defeat by Sheffield United – was to precede even more difficulties surrounding the clubs finances.

Despite finishing the 2014 Conference season in mid-table safety, the club was in massive debt and was demoted to the Conference South (a result of failure to pay their staff). A few weeks later they were expelled from the Conference completely. With no league to play in, Salisbury City FC was effectively no more.

However, thanks to the financial input of Steve Claridge (who went on to become manager) and a consortium of four others (Jeremy Harwood, Graeme Mundy, David Phillips and Ian Ridley), Salisbury was reformed.

The rebirth was complete in May 2015, when the FA placed Salisbury FC in the Wessex League Premier Division.

With Steve Claridge at the helm, things are looking bright for the club. Although unfairly regarded as a “journeyman” during his playing career (despite scoring play-off final and League Cup final winning goals while at Leicester City), he confidently guided the club to the title last year, winning the league by a margin of twenty points.

The next target is a return to the Conference.

GWP Protective are pleased to be supporting their local team, and wish the club, players and fans the very best for the 2016/17 season and beyond.

For further information on Salisbury FC, please visit their website by clicking here.