New sponsors delighted to back Bognor as training and trials begin

Bognor's famous Pullen brothers with the Sussex Senior Cup at the sponsors' draw, where the winners allowed the club to auction the prize of shirt sponsor / Picture by Tommy McMillan

Pearce, along with coach Robbie Blake, has made a number of important signings so far over the summer including recruiting striker Dan Smith and midfielder Freddie Read from Pompey while fans' favourite Stu Green is returning to Nyewood Lane from AFC Totton.

The players have now returned to pre-season training, while Pearce and Blake put a crop of trialists through their paces at a special invitational training session on Saturday.

Reynolds, who has been Bognor chairman for the past 12 years, believes there is every reason to be brimming with confidence going in to the new campaign. He was speaking after his firm, Reynolds Furniture, entered the highest bid to win the auction to become the main sponsor of the club.

He said: "As a company we are absolutely delighted to be the main sponsors for the forthcoming season. We very much look forward to a successful relationship both on and off the pitch. On a personal level, and as a long-standing fan, I am really excited by the prospect of the new season with our new signings.

"It was great to see the Rocks win the Sussex Senior Cup last season and we hope to build on that success. Jack and Robbie seem to have done a lot of early business in terms of bringing players the club as well as keeping key players, the likes of jimmy Muitt, Doug Tuck and Harvey Whyte, so there are lots of reasons to go into the campaign with a degree of optimism, perhaps -- dare I say it -- even confidence."

The chance for Reynolds Furniture to bid for the sponsorship arose when businessmen Victor Coutin, the MD at GardX, donated the prize back to the Nye Camp outfit after he won it in the sponsors' draw.

Reynolds Furniture and the Nyewood Lane outfit are no strangers with the 152-year-old business a long-time backer of the club -- indeed, the company first had their names emblazoned on the team's shirts a quarter of a century ago.

And Reynolds added: "We have a photo of me, my dad and my brothers with the team when we were shirt sponsors for the first time 25 years ago. Now we can look forward to a new team picture with our branding on the shirts and we're really chuffed."