Ashford United Football Club

Hello and welcome to the official SNAP Sponsorship profile of Ashford United FC.

We're delighted to announce that we’ve now partnered with SNAP Sponsorship and we’re looking for sponsors who are excited about affiliating themselves with a passionate and innovative semi-professional football club in Ashford Kent. We have big plans for the future and we’d love for you to join us on our journey.

We strive to craft a partnership with our sponsors that meets their specific objectives, whether that be community gifting, social responsibility (CSR), direct sales or brand building.

Whatever your motivation, find out more below. Thank you for visiting our profile.

Why Sponsor Us?

Increased brand awareness, raising the profile of your business in our community

In order to continually improve our facilities for the local community and drive the club forward, we’re keen to build relationships with new and exciting businesses who wish to align themselves with our club ethos and help make a positive impact in the local community. We would like to work alongside you to explore opportunities and mutual benefits.

Sponsoring us will raise the profile of your business and benefit you in the following ways: 

• Exposure to hundreds in the local area and players and spectators from visiting teams 
• Publicity in local papers
• Increased brand awareness on our website and social media accounts
• Satisfaction from giving back to and supporting the local community.

All revenue raised will be returned to the club to improve facilities for our players and spectators who love football.

Engage with our many members and capitalise on our strong social media following

Ashford United FC is in the heart of the community with links to a sizeable audience base surrounding the club. In addition to our large membership and extensive supporter network, we’re also active on social media and use our website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to promote our club, fixtures and sponsors to a total following of nearly 12,000 people.

We’re an extremely social club who pride themselves on being warm, friendly and family-orientated. We regularly host events throughout the year and we’d be happy to host a sponsored networking event if desired.

Ashford United FC has an array of sponsorship opportunities which can be tailored to meet your objectives. Through sponsorship, our club will promote your company in a wide variety of ways enriching the profile of your business in our community. 

Remove economic barriers making football affordable, accessible and inclusive for all

Sports sponsorship delivers a much higher return on investment than traditional advertising. This is because sponsorship allows your business to become directly involved in activities that are highly valued by local consumers.

Ashford United FC is proud of its strong bonds with the community and enjoys supporting and engaging with local initiatives. Consumers are known to form strong positive associations with sponsors who support the development of sport and also contribute to the local area and by directly supporting us, you’re helping to remove economic barriers – making football affordable, accessible and inclusive for all in the community.

Contact us now to find out more and explore what Ashford United FC can offer you!

The Club Today

Ashford United FC are an English football club based in Ashford, Kent. The 'new' United was formed in 2011, resurrecting the name used by the town's football club between 1891 and 1907.

Following the demise of the original Ashford United club in 1907 and through to 1928, Ashford was represented by Ashford Railway Works FC where it gained the nickname ‘Nuts and Bolts’ which is still used today – thought to have come about due to many of the members being drawn from the ranks of skilled engineers from the railway. The current club is effectively a 'phoenix club' having risen from the ashes of the financial ruin of its predecessor. Although not a supporter owned club, like most non-league clubs, it relies on contributions of volunteers and supporters.

Ashford United are currently members of the Isthmian League South East Division following their record-breaking promotion from the Southern Counties East Football League in the 2016–17 season. They are one of very few semi-professional teams in England to have a synthetic 3G pitch, which is located at their home stadium 'The Homelands'.

The club have ambitious plans to transform The Homelands into a fully accessible, inclusive and sustainable stadium to meet the current and growing needs of the club and the 20-plus teams that regularly use the site and to provide the facilities required to allow the club to meet ground requirements for promotion to higher football leagues. You can read all about it here.

Planning permission has now been given the go-ahead to build 10 units and we also have a new state-of-the-art 4G pitch which is due to be completed by the end of this month.

History of Our Club

Previous Names

• Ashford United (1891 to 1906–07, recorded expunged after 10 matches of season)
• Ashford Railway Works (1909–10 to 1927-28)
• Ashford Town (1930-31 to 2009–10)*.

*Kent League tables to season 1949-50 list team as Ashford.

Previous Grounds

• Rear of Victoria Hotel
• Godinton Road
• Newtown
• Essella Park (1930 to 1987)
• Cheriton Road, Folkestone (1987 to 1989) – Groundshare with Folkestone FC.
   

Accomplishments

Highest Attendance

• 6525 at Essella Park v Crystal Palace – FA Cup 1st Round 1959
• 3363 at The Homelands v Fulham – FA Cup 1st Round 1994.

Highest Goalscorers (Ashford Town)

• Dave Arter – 197
• John Young – 172
• Mark Stanton – 128
• Lee McRobert – 106.

Highest Goalscorers (Ashford United)

1. Shaun Welford – 85
2. Gary Lockyer – 47 
3. Stuart Zanone – 47 
4. Danny Parish – 33 
5. Mo Takalobighashi – 32
6. Sam Conlon – 32 
7. Kieran Byrne – 29 
8. Adam Cuthbert – 29 
9. Paul Booth – 29 
10. Gary Mickelborough – 28.

Most goals in a single season (Both Town & United)

• Shaun Welford – 48 (2016–2017)
• Stuart Zanone – 47 (2014–2015)
• Alan Morton – 46 (1972–1973).

Most Appearances (United)

1. Pat Kingwell – 180
2. Luke Cuthbert – 162
3. Adam Cuthbert – 147
4. Joe Mant – 125
5. Liam Whiting – 125
6. Tom Scorer – 125
7. Gary Mickelborough – 117
8. Sam Conlon – 115
9. Ben Jordan – 103
10. George Kamurasi – 101.

Biggest Wins

• 15-0 v Erith & Belvedere – 28 April 1937 Kent League
• 11-2 v Folkestone Town – 1946–47 Kent League
• 10-1 v Royal Navy Depot – 1930–31 Kent League
• 10-1 v Betteshanger CW – 6 September 1958 FA Cup Preliminary Round
• 10-1 v Barry Town – 8 February 1964 Southern League
• 10-3 v Whitstable – 21 September 1946 FA Cup Preliminary Round.

Heaviest Defeats

• 3-14 Folkestone Reserves – 1933-34 Kent League
• 0-12 Woolwich Arsenal – 14 October 1893 FA Cup First Round Qualifying
• 1-11 Erith & Belvedere – 1938–39 Kent League
• 0-10 Northfleet United – 1933–34 Kent League
• 0-8 Northfleet United – 1935–36 Kent League
• 0-8 Crawley Town – 4 November 1964 Southern League.

Highest Fee Paid

£7,000 for Jeff Ross & Dave Arter – Sittingbourne 1994.

Highest Fee Received

£25,000 for Jeff Ross & Dave Arter – Hythe Town 1990.

Highest Fee Received (individual)

£20,000 for Lee McRobert – Sittingbourne 1993.
 

Honours

Club Achievements

• Kent League Champions 1948–49
• Kent League Runners-up 1931–32
• Kent League Cup Winners 1938–39
• Kent League Division Two (East) champions (4) 1911–12, 1912–13, 1913–14 & 1919–20
• Southern Counties East League champions (1) 2016–17
• Southern Counties East League runners-up (2) 2013–14 & 2014–15
• Kent Senior Cup winners (5) 1892–93, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1992–93 & 1995–96
• Kent Senior Cup runners-up (5) 1901–02, 1902–03, 1961–62, 1980–81 & 1981–82
• Kent Floodlight Cup winners 1961–62
• Kent Senior Trophy winners (1) 2016–17
• Kent Senior Trophy runners-up (2) 2013–14 & 2015–16
• Southern League Southern Division runners up 1986–87 & 1995–96
• Southern League Cup Semi-final 1968–69
• Eastern Floodlit Cup Semi-final (2) 1983–84 & 1993–94.

FA Cup Best

2nd Round (3) 1961–62, 1966–67 & 1996–97
1st Round (7) 1934–35, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1974–75, 1994–95 & 1995–96.

FA Trophy Best

Semi-final 1972–73
4th Round 2000–01.

FA Vase Best

Quarter-final 2015–16.

Players Progressed to the Football League (Ashford Town)

• Ollie Norris – Rochdale 1961
• Howard Moore – Coventry 1966
• Tony Godden – West Bromwich Albion 1975
• Lee McRobert – Millwall 1994
• Lee Bracey – Swansea City (1988-91), Halifax Town (1991–93), Bury (1993–96) & Hull City (1999–2001)
• Sam Saunders – Dagenham and Redbridge & Brentford
• Frank Ovard – Gillingham 1982
• Asa Hall – Shrewsbury & Luton Town 2008
• Matt Carruthers – Mansfield Town 1999
• Liam Hatch – Barnet, Darlington & Luton
• Craig Rocastle – Sheffield Wednesday, Yeovil, Barnsley, Oldham & Port Vale
• Roy Hodgson – Manager of numerous teams including Bristol City, Switzerland, Blackburn Rovers, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion & England
• Phil Smith* – Swindon & Portsmouth
• Adrian Webster – Darlington & New Zealand
• Gavin Tomlin – Brentford, Yeovil Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, Gillingham, Southend, Port Vale & Crawley Town
• Gareth Gwillim – Dagenham & Redbridge & AFC Wimbledon.

*He had previously played league football with Millwall but dropped to non-league level, before later returning to league football.

Players Progressed to the Football League (Ashford United)

Max Watters – Doncaster Rovers 2018.

Aspirations

With membership and crowd attendances rising, we have ambitious plans to continue to develop the infrastructure at the club, refurbish our stadium and grow our teams.

Naturally, we want to support our sponsors and build them in to our club on a strategic level — allowing all of our partners to benefit from our ever-improving facilities, expanding audience and our community involvement.