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English Football League (EFL) Football Sports Marketing

Chesterfield FC's marketing chief departs following fake raffle winner ‘farce’

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By Tony Connelly | Sports Marketing Reporter

July 20, 2016 | 2 min read

Chesterfield Football Club’s marketing and commercial head has left the club under a cloud of controversy after an internal investigation found he had rigged a raffle for a place at the club’s pre-season training camp in Hungary.

Chesterfield fake raffle winner ‘farce’

Chesterfield

The League One club confirmed that their head of commercial and marketing, Kevin Fitzgerald, has departed after a supporter discovered that the winner of the raffle did not exist.

The competition, which only sold four of the £20 raffle tickets, was won by Surrey-based 'James Higgins', who was apparently too ill to attend the training camp in Hungary.

After sending him a get well soon message in a press release Chesterfield’s director and company secretary, Ashley Carson, was tipped off by a supporter who had “concerns” about the competition.

“After a thorough internal investigation, I can now confirm the person responsible for this total farce has now left the football club,” said Carson.

He continued: “I am still reeling from the shameful incident that has attracted nationwide headlines for the club for all the wrong reasons,” Carson continued.

“Kevin Fitzgerald has been a hard-working, respected, likeable employee who has, for some reason, made a massive error of judgment and has paid the consequences for his actions. The board were unaware of his actions and have taken swift action after uncovering the truth.”

The club stated that they are now looking to move beyond the incident and are in the process of finding a replacement to fill the role.

English Football League (EFL) Football Sports Marketing

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