The Football League has agreed a new sponsorship extension with Johnstone's Paint for The Football League Trophy. The agreement will see the competition continue as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for a further three seasons, until 2011/12.
In welcoming three more years of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney said: 'I am delighted that another of our highly valued partners has decided to extend its relationship with The Football League. Johnstone's Paint's continued commitment is excellent news for clubs and will help boost our ongoing efforts to raise the profile of this competition.
'Two seasons ago, we implemented a number of changes to increase its spectator appeal. Additionally, clubs have sought to attract a new family audience to midweek cup football through a range of innovations.
'The result of these efforts has been that crowds have increased by 69% during the first two years of the current agreement. We aim to continue that progress.'
In 2006/07 The Football League introduced a package of reforms for this competition including the scrapping of extra-time, increased regionalisation in early rounds and a renewed commitment from clubs to fielding first-team sides in matches. Clubs were also encouraged to provide free tickets for under-16's and to experiment with early kick-off times such as 7.00pm and 7.15pm.
The Johnstone's Paint Trophy continues to offer clubs in Leagues 1 and 2 the opportunity to play in a prestigious cup final at Wembley Stadium and for Johnstone's it has helped lift the company's brand recognition to greater heights than ever before.
Greg Molyneux, Managing Director from Johnstone's Paints added: 'The Johnstone's brand has benefited massively from our first three years of sponsorship, with tens of thousands of fans getting to know and appreciate our vast range of products.
'We have also received far greater awareness in local communities, provided two showcase finals to wow our customers at Cardiff and Wembley and a number of decorating centre based support activities have reaped rewards.
'To extend our sponsorship for another three years represents a great investment and we couldn't be happier to announce the news.'
