Edinburgh Monarchs secure '˜significant' sponsor deal

Edinburgh Monarchs have engineered a 'very significant' team sponsorship deal and will be known as the Parsons Peebles Monarchs this season.

Len Jones of Parson Peebles, second right, with Monarchs chairman Alex Harkess, far left, and promoter John Campbell, far right, are joined by riders, from left, Mitchell Davey, Sam Masters, Josh Pickering, Erik Riss and Mark Riss. Pic: Ron MacNeill

It looked as if the club would enter this season without a backer but thanks to the efforts of Monarchs Fans Trust chairman Len Jones, a chief engineer with the Rosyth-based company, a deal has been struck.

Monarchs chairman Alex Harkess said: “I was speechless when I was told.”

Jones explained: “My boss is the chief executive officer and he knows I’m a speedway nut and we were without a sponsor. So when I approached him, he knew what I wanted.

“He asked me ‘how much are we talking about?’. That was a question I wasn’t ready for. So we agreed a deal that will see Parsons Peebles make a monthly payment to Monarchs over seven months of the season. It amounts to a very significant amount of money. When you look back on last season and all the rain-offs had it not been for all the money the FansTrust put in I don’t think I’d be here talking about speedway now.”

Jones added: “Although my boss and I are good friends, he was very receptive and very easy to deal with. Our parent company are doing some sponsorship of Glasgow, not as significant as the deal with Edinburgh. As soon as I mentioned that, he said we could do a sponsorship with Edinburgh.”

Harkess added: “I always felt we would find a sponsor but this one became very important because of the size of it. They haven’t asked us for anything yet so I don’t know if the agreement is just for this season or longer. It’s so new the race jackets with the sponsors logo won’t be ready until our opening night on Friday. They have a marketing department and we will speak to them – we need to make sure we nurture it.”

Asked if this now secures Monarchs’ short term future, Harkess replied: “Yes, it does. Not that we were planning to fold but a major sponsor like this gives us an amazing amount of security.”