TMG Financial Services becomes Rotherham Women's shirt sponsor

TMG Financial Services has agreed a partnership with Rotherham United Women FC to become the club's Official Back-of-Shirt Partner for the 2026/27 season, giving the mortgage and protection network prominent branding on both the First Team and Under-23 shirts as the club rebuilds under new ownership. The deal is notable because TMG's founder and chief executive, Scott Thorpe, is also co-owner of Rotherham United Women alongside Fintel non-executive chair Phil Smith, following their rescue of the club from the brink of closure this year.

TMG Financial Services is a Rotherham-headquartered mortgage, protection and later-life lending business, part of TMG Mortgage Network, a UK mortgage and protection network founded in 2021. The company describes itself as the largest specialist financial services business in the Rotherham area, though it does not publicly disclose turnover.

Rotherham United Women FC is an English women's football club founded in 1969 as Kilnhurst Shooting Stars, based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and acquired earlier in 2026 by local businessmen Phil Smith and Scott Thorpe after the club came close to closure. The new owners have set a target of reaching the Barclays Women's Super League within five years.

The sponsorship is not an arm's-length commercial transaction: Thorpe, TMG's founder and chief executive, co-owns the club he is now sponsoring, alongside Fintel's Phil Smith, making this an owner directing marketing spend into a club he personally controls.

TMG head of operations Ava Jones said the company had grown into a major financial services business but that Rotherham remained its home, and that being a successful local business should also mean giving something back.

Rotherham United Women co-owner Phil Smith said TMG had grown into the largest specialist mortgage, protection and later-life financial services business in the area while creating jobs and investing locally, making the partnership particularly significant given that shared local identity.

For the sector, the deal illustrates a growing pattern in grassroots and lower-tier women's football, where new ownership groups with overlapping business interests use sponsorship to channel commercial revenue into clubs they have personally rescued, a structure that differs from conventional third-party sponsorship and is worth noting for transparency even where both parties disclose the connection openly.

Source: Mortgage Soup / The Intermediary / Rotherham Advertiser / Yahoo Sports