Stuart Middleton has made his £millions at Card Factory (where he has been creative director for years and is a major shareholder) but now he sharing his good fortune with the fans of rugby league team, Warrington Wolves.
Stuart has just become chairman the respected rugby league team that he has supported since he was a lad with big plans to invest in the club as well as provide funds to inspire and help underprivileged youngsters get into sport.
Stuart joined the board of Warrington Wolves in 2015 and has invested more than £1 million in the club since then, helping in areas such as funding transfer fees and stadium renovations. And he has pledged to spend a further £1 million over the next four years.
“I have been a lifelong fan of Warrington Wolves and it’s weird to think that I am now the main man making all the decisions,” Stuart told PG Buzz. “I wanted to be chairman because I felt we had become complacent in all areas. We have a saying at Card Factory ‘Be proud but not complacent’.”
Stuart said that some major changes have already been made to the coaching and playing personnel so he is hopeful of “a good season next year and beyond.”
Stuart likened the club to running Card Factory’s design studio, commenting: “Just like the studio, I am also keen to nurture and develop our own local talent. I am in the process of setting up the Stuart Middleton Foundation to help young people in sport and to help those from unprivileged backgrounds to give them hope, confidence and motivation to achieve.”
Using the sporting analogy in relation to the Card Factory side of his life, he said that in the value card retailing business “the ‘playing team’ is our product and if that performs well, the customers will come and support us, so we then need to look after the customers and give them what they want.”
Stuart had proved himself in the greeting card ‘field’ before joining Card Factory, having worked for Hanson White and Carte Blanche before setting up his own card company, Excelsior, which was one of the original suppliers of retail chain.
