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League Two football club Swindon Town has announced that the County Ground will be renamed in honour of Nigel Eady, a lifelong fan who passed away in January 2012.
The announcement comes after Town last year completed the purchase of the stadium from Swindon Borough Council as part of a joint venture that will see the club and its supporters assume full ownership of the ground.
The sale was priced at £2.3m (€2.7m/$3m), with funding for the acquisition coming from the Nigel Eady Trust. When Eady passed away, he left money behind to be reinvested into the club and the local community.
The stadium will be known as the Nigel Eady County Ground for the duration of the 2024-25 season through a partnership between the club and the Trust.
Following last year’s purchase of the County Ground, the club and its Supporters Trust have owned the stadium site as part of an equal 50-50 split, which will reduce rental costs and allow for developments across the stadium.
Rob Carter and Jez Webb, trustees of the Nigel Eady Trust, said: “For the trustees of Nigel’s estate, the naming of the ground in his honour for the coming season is a fitting tribute to his generosity. As well as the purchase of the ground, The Eady Trust were also able to make a significant contribution to the development at Foundation Park and the Nigel Eady Training Centre.
“The purchase of the ground was the culmination of 10 years of work for The Eady Trustees. The majority of the work required to move Nigel’s estate to a position where the purchase was possible fell to his two great friends Gary Herbert and John Carter.
“At this proud moment we would like to pay special tribute to John and Gary for the many hours of work they put into making the ground purchase possible. Our thanks go to the club for making this naming a possibility. Nigel would have been delighted.”
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