Aberdeen Football Club has secured a new Elite Youth Development partnership with ESS, the market leading support services division of Compass Group. The 18 month deal will see ESS support all of the Club's youth development teams and supply them with ESS branded Nike tracksuits and rain jackets.

ESS are the latest partner to join the Club's Elite Youth Development programme which has over 200 players, aged from U10 to U17, including teams based in our Hamilton centre. The young Dons U13-17s play weekly fixtures against the other SPL clubs in the SFA Youth Initiative, while the U10s-12s teams in Glasgow and Aberdeen also play scheduled fixtures against other SPL clubs as well as the top Scottish League clubs. The U10s play in the local juvenile scene.

Commenting on the partnership, Aberdeen Football Club's Director of Football Willie Miller said:

"This is a fantastic boost for the Club's Elite Youth Development Programme. The future of this Club relies on the success of the Elite Youth Programme, and even though in recent years we have been forced to reduce budgets across the Club, we have maintained a high level of investment in youth development. The ESS sponsorship allows us to continue to do this, and we would like to thank Peter Bruce and his colleagues for their continued support."

Peter Bruce, said:

"We are delighted to be able to support the Club's youth development programme. You only have to look at the Club's current pool of first team players to see what can be achieved through such a successful programme. The likes of Russell Anderson, Ryan Esson, Chris Clark, Zander Diamond, Michael Hart and Darren Mackie have been starring week in, week out in the SPL and Kyle Macaulay, Andrew Considine, Chris Maguire and Willie John Kiely have been excellent at international level. We have watched these lads emerge over the past few seasons, and we are keen to help the next batch of exciting youngsters make the grade."

Peter Bruce will now also be appointed to the Youth Development Board which is tasked with raising the profile of and attracting funds to the Elite Youth Development Programme.

More about ESS

ESS is the market leading support services division of Compass Group providing multi-service capability to major companies and organisations operating in remote site, defence and off-shore sectors. ESS, formerly known as Eurest Support Services, evolved as a direct result of responding in a positive and pro-active manner to clients and customers needs. ESS complement the Compass Group's international growth in multi-service provision contracts, and supports the Compass Group sectorisation strategy by focusing on a specific market sector.

This range spans industries as diverse as mining, construction, agriculture, oil and gas exploration and production, as well as infrastructure development in the third world or in countries devastated by war or economic disaster.

In the defence industry, ESS operates in major garrisons around the world, in the field - both theatre and relief operations, and in military headquarters and administrative offices such as the Pentagon.

The multi-service offer can often be a bundle of different services (up to 62 capabilities), from technical support and supply logistics to hotel services and catering; vehicle maintenance, transport and camp building to pest control, healthcare and communications.

This holistic approach to the business, working with Best in Class partners such as Eurest, Raytheon, NAAFI, NEXCOM and BAE Systems, means ESS can consistently operate with a winning price strategy and innovative service solutions in environments that are often high-risk and continuously changing.

Further information can be found at www.ess-global.com.