The media company started by a De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) graduate is behind the special matchday programme celebrating Leicester City’s historic Premier League win.
Billions of people worldwide are expected to watch Saturday’s game between the Foxes and Everton at King Power Stadium, the first home game since the team were crowned champions on Monday, realising what many considered an impossible feat.
Tens of thousands of people will be at the stadium, either inside or out, as the game takes place, with as many as possible looking to get hold of the special commemorative matchday programme to mark the occasion.
And it is Soar Media, a marketing firm co-founded by DMU graduate Dean Eldredge and his team – many of whom also studied at DMU – which is responsible for the publication.
Dean, Communications Director at Soar Media, said: “We’re very proud to be working alongside Leicester City in the production of the Matchday Magazine.
Over the past five seasons, we’ve helped produce publications for some landmark occasions, including the final edition for the Championship title-winning season.
“But nothing compares to what we’ve seen this week, building up to the game against Everton which will see City lifting the Premier League title for the first time in the club’s history.”
He said this week’s Champions Edition of the programme was the biggest Soar had put together, at 108 pages.
“We’ve had a turnaround of three days, which was a certainly a challenge but one that the team, both here and at Leicester City, came together to accomplish,” he said.
“More copies than ever before have been ordered by the club. It’s wonderful to know that something we have worked on is going to form a small part in what is an historic day.
“On Tuesday morning, the day after City were confirmed champions, our editor Chris Mortley was at the club’s training ground getting content for the publication. Witnessing the celebrations first-hand was very special, as has been the opportunity to speak to the players”.
Both Dean and his business partner, Gary Webster – who designs all of the artwork for the programme – completed postgraduate degrees at DMU – a Masters in Business Administration and PG Cert in Sports Law, respectively - whilst Soar’s Multimedia Editor, Owen Maddocks, completed a Masters in Creative Technology. The firm’s Communications Executive, Jacob Jarvis, also graduated with a First in Journalism.
Saturday’s programme will feature an article written by DMU’s Neil Carter, senior research fellow of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture (ICSHC).
For each home league game, Dr Carter writes a historically-themed piece for the programme, which was last year voted Premier League Programme of the Year, by the Soccer Club Swap Shop Awards.
In this special issue, he focuses on John Moores, former chairman of Everton FC and head of Littlewoods Pools, which became one of the most popular bets of the mid-20th century and under whose chairmanship Everton won the league in 1963 and 1970, and the FA Cup in 1966.
Posted on Friday 6 May 2016