Circle Cloud becomes new sponsor of Thornaby FC

Circle Cloud has become a new sponsor of Thornaby FC, giving the Stockton-based IT firm a community sponsorship platform as the Northern League Division One club builds on a season that saw both its men's and women's teams win promotion. The partnership brings together two Teesside organisations with local roots, according to the club, as Circle Cloud backs Thornaby's work developing local talent and player facilities.

Circle Cloud is a Stockton-on-Tees IT support and cyber security provider founded in 2013, working exclusively with small and medium-sized enterprises from its base at the Fusion Hive innovation hub. The company has reported contracted revenue growing more than 20% in 2024 and is on track to exceed £2 million in 2025.

Thornaby FC is an English football club based at Teesdale Park in Thornaby-on-Tees, with its men's team playing in Northern League Division One, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, and its women's team newly promoted to the FA Women's National League North Division One for 2026/27. The club has continued to rebuild since a 2023 arson attack damaged its ground facilities. The club does not disclose sponsorship-specific financial terms.

The deal sits at the grassroots end of the sponsorship market, with an IT support provider backing a ninth-tier men's team and a newly promoted women's team rather than a professional league fixture, reflecting a direct-community rather than broadcast-reach rationale.

Circle Cloud marketing manager Lisa Stidwell said the company was pleased to work with a club that plays an important role in the community, and that supporting organisations providing opportunities and bringing people together mattered to a local business.

Thornaby FC chief operating officer Ryan McKnight said support from local businesses was hugely important to clubs of its size, helping fund investment in facilities, players and the wider football programme.

The partnership illustrates how regional SME sponsors, particularly in professional and technical services, use small non-league clubs as a low-cost route to reinforce local reputation and staff and customer goodwill, distinct from the reach-driven sponsorship strategies typically seen at professional club level.

Source: Bdaily / Thornaby FC