Preston and Spud Bros cook up a shirt sponsorship deal we can get behind

The Guardian

25-06-2025

Welcome to Football Daily's TED talk on what makes a good shirt sponsor. While it is not an exact science, there are three basic rules to follow. The first and most important one is that, with the exception of gambling companies that make up the vast majority of filth on the front of most tops these days, the worse the product is for you, the better the sponsor. Tin (Guinness at QPR, McEwans lager at Blackburn, Holsten at Tottenham Hotspur, etc), video games (Sega and Dreamcast at Arsenal, Nintendo at Fiorentina, Playstation at Auxerre), fast food and snacks (Chupa Chups at Sheffield Wednesday, Pizza Hut at Fulham, Mars at Napoli) are all iconic in their own right, despite those companies not having ties to their respective clubs.
The next rule is a fairly obvious one: design. Nothing too big, nothing too small, not too many (South American Dept, we're looking at you). Something that stands out but also complements the colours of the shirt is ideal. It's a fine balance in truth, which is why Football Daily generally leaves design stuff to the Big Website nerds at Guardian Towers. The last rule is: keep it local, and if that includes the categories above, all the better. Tin-wise, Newcastle Brown Ale at, you guessed it, Newcastle United and Quilmes beer at Boca Juniors are prime examples of Grade A local Tin sponsorship. Food and drink: Ginsters at Plymouth Argyle, Walkers Crisps at Leicester City, Colman's at Norwich City all hit the spot. As long as you are hitting two of the three rules – bad for you, good design, local – it's normally a good year to buy the shirt.
All of which is a long-winded way of introducing the new shirt sponsors for Preston North End, Spud Bros, which sounds like a barber shop owned by Bart Simpson but is actually a Preston-based jacket potato company started by two siblings, Jacob and Harley Nelson. The pair have somehow sold thousands of spuds out of the back of a van and amassed millions of Social Media Disgrace followers in the process, with free jacket potato vouchers given out to the first 2,000 fans to buy the new shirt at the launch event at Deepdale this weekend. That sounds like a good deal and if there's one man that knows about business and commercial enterprise, it is Peter Ridsdale, current North End CEO and former Leeds chief suit who nearly steered the Yorkshire club to the brink of insolvency. 'SpudBros are one of the fastest growing brands in the UK and their phenomenal worldwide media exposure and international recognition teaming up with the original Invincibles football club feels like a perfect match,' roared Ridsdale. 'We are excited to be working with individuals with such enthusiasm, excitement and innovative media awareness. Preston North End and SpudBros – a partnership to savour.'
Even if we hate that pun, Football Daily very much approves of this sponsorship, with it being a local venture (tick, 1/3), an eyecatching design on that famous white shirt (tick 2/3) and gloriously unhealthy (tick, 3/3!), so long as the locals maintain their delicious fondness of adding mountains of cheese and rivers of gravy to their nearby carbohydrates. Preston North End's 2025-26 season is already shaping up to be a banger, we'll see you down the front at Deepdale on Saturday for that voucher.
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