A husband and wife team from Oldbury are turning their love for the beautiful game into a new line of business for their interiors company.
Paul and Lorraine Willis, who own joinery manufacturer PCP Interiors, are looking to tap into the lucrative sporting giftware market by designing, making and selling a range of footy-themed headboards for die-hard fans.
They can machine the club badge of any team in the UK on to a traditional wooden frame, and have already signed up Coventry City and Hull to an agreement to stock the product through their online catalogues.
They are hoping the development will push turnover at PCP through the £1 million mark for the first time in its three-year history.
Mrs Willis, who used to be a business analyst for Jaguar, said: "Our core business is in providing pieces of manufactured joinery mainly for the retail sector, with big name clients such as Dollond & Aitchison, Revive Juice Bars, QS Fashion Stores and TK Maxx.
"Like all businesses we have peaks and troughs and we were seriously considering taking our traditional skills into new areas so we could create a new revenue stream.
"It was at this stage that we got talking with Business Link West Midlands and mentioned that my husband Paul had made a football headboard for our son and a dolphin one for our daughter. Gary Mather, the adviser, was so impressed with the quality of the product he suggested that this could be the new side of the firm." They set up PCP Woodology as a trading division of their core business and a website (www.theheader.net) to promote the brand.
And they have been approaching local teams, including Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Wolves to try to sign deals for the headboards.
Mr Willis, who is a lifelong Villa fan along with his wife, said: "There is so much potential out there, as the skills we possess mean we can just about draw and produce any headboard requested, from rugby and cricket teams to popstars and even WWE wrestlers.
"What we need to get right is to ensure we have the right licensing agreements in place and this is what takes time. Initially, we're looking at the West Midlands clubs, but have started to make tentative enquiries to some of the Premier League's top teams."
The contracts they hope to sign would give them a licence to manufacture more than 3,000 "Header" headboards, which would easily send the two companies through the £1 million barrier and create another two jobs in the process.
Business Link's Gary Mather said: "PCP are half way there to making this a major success story and we expect Coventry City and Hull coming on board to generate renewed interest from football teams who will not want to miss out on a piece of the action."
