A SADDLEWORTH football club is ready to blast off to Saturn 5, thanks to a sponsorship agreement with indie icons Inspiral Carpets.
Uppermill FC’s first team will feature the band’s name on its away shirt for the forthcoming Manchester League season.
And a few other famous faces will be joining them after being included on the design.
Inspiral Carpets’ name is emblazoned across the yellow shirt in its 1960s psychedelic font after the idea took off.
It will also feature on a pink goalkeeping strip, as well as a blue training top – and it will be worn by them in a gig at the Kendal Calling festival in August.
The whole thing is the idea of Uppermill FC chief executive Steve Southern, who grew up alongside band member Graham Lambert in Chadderton.
And if things go as expected, it could be a money earner.
“I grew up with Graham, albeit he was five years older than me,” said Steve. “I was one of the annoying kids to follow him around.
“I was sat thinking, ‘What can I do that’s unusual for the football club? I know, I’ll see if the Inspiral Carpets will sponsor a kit for us.’
“I contacted Graham and he said, ‘We don’t really sponsor kits, but as long as it’s done properly, we don’t mind using our name and our image.
“If you can apply it to a kit and sell replicas, everybody wins.’”
Inspiral Carpets may dominate the new shirts, which are now available to order through kit makers Hope and Glory, and they have lined up an ‘unveiling’ on stage.
The familiar cow’s head emblem is included but they are not the only music icon featuring on it.
In the background, the Bard of Salford, John Cooper Clarke, and Mark E Smith – lead singer of The Fall – also appear.
And the planet Saturn has made it on, along with a built-in chain, a reference to keyboard player Clint Boon’s attire in the 1990s.
Guitarist Graham, who lives in Austerlands, told Saddleworth Independent: “We’re all football fans to varying degrees and we felt it would be good to get our name associated with some culture in the community.
“We’re in the music business and we’ve been around since 1988 when we first started making records, so we were associated with the ‘youth of today’ back in the 1990s.
“Now all these years down the line, it just feels nice to put something back in and get behind a local football team that’s doing lots of good things in the community.
“We’ve a big tour ourselves going all over the UK at the end of the year – we’ll be flying the flag for Uppermill on our travels!”
Inspiral Carpets’ drummer, Kev Clarke, already knows what he will be wearing at their gig at Kendal Calling on August 1 – Uppermill FC’s training top.
And the details added by designers at kit makers Hope and Glory has amazed everyone.
“We’ll officially launch it, out in the flesh,” Graham added.
“Kev’s going to wear it. It’ll be the blue one as he’s a bit of a City fan.
“They’re really nice and we can’t believe the intensity of the design. If you look closely, there are a lot of things relating to our record covers from over the years.
“Hope and Glory have done a great job. I think they’re fans of the band.
“We said, ‘Do something that’s appropriate. Use the psychdelic logo on the front,’ and they came back with the design.
“The chain was their idea as Clint in the early 1990s used to have a clock in a chain around his neck. They incorporated that. It’s brilliant, we love it.
“We can’t claim any credit. It’s a fantastic idea and we really like it.”
Steve added: “It was more of a novelty idea than anything but as the conversation moved in, Graham said, ‘The band is really up for this. We’d love to stock them at our gigs too.’
“And they’re huge still. My sister’s their biggest fan and the first team manager, Mark Howard, claims to be a big fan and our chairman, Simon Tait, is a massive fan. He can’t wait to get his Inspirals shirt He’s the most excited person in the club!”
*YOU CAN order Uppermill FC’s Inspiral Carpets-themed kit, priced £25 for junior sizes and £35 for adults, by clicking https://store.hopeandglorysportswear.co.uk/uppermill-fc.
You must be logged in to post a comment.