Andrew Pilley

Andrew James "Andy" Pilley (born 26 May 1970 in Blackpool, United Kingdom) is an English businessman. He is the current chairman and owner of Sky Bet League 1 football club Fleetwood Town Football Club, the managing director of independent commercial utility group, BES Utilities and the managing director of independent utility sales agency network Commercial Power.

Background

Known as a businessman, entrepreneur, community advocate and most famously as the chairman and owner of Fleetwood Town Football Club, Pilley was born on the Fylde Coast and was brought up in the Borough of Wyre (which includes the towns of Fleetwood, Thornton-Cleveleys and Poulton-le-Fylde). Having lived almost all his life in this corner of North West England, he has a huge affection for the area and has been committed to giving as much back to the local community he is proud to be a part of.

He became self-employed in 2001 due to the demise of large energy company, Enron, which left him unemployed. As a result of this, he started his own utilities brokerage business from his spare bedroom, offering businesses the opportunity to save money on their gas and electricity bills.^[1]

Fleetwood Town Football Club

Pilley's 'football career' began as long ago as 1992 when with a group of friends he formed a local amateur team, FC Anchorsholme. The enjoyment he gained from his involvement with this team fuelled his already strong passion for the game and in 2004 he was offered the chance to become involved in Fleetwood Town Football Club. What he found upon his arrival at Fleetwood Town was a club with a dilapidated stadium, very limited revenue streams and in desperate need of investment and a complete new direction.^[2]

Since becoming owner, Pilley has invested in excess of £10million into the club.^[3] His financial support has seen the complete renovation of Highbury Stadium, including the construction of its centre piece, the Parkside Stand, which first opened to spectators in March 2011. This 2,000 capacity seated stand offers executive boxes and a large hospitality area which plays an important role in providing income streams for the club both on matchdays and non-match days.^[4] Both the Parkside and Memorial Stands are also home to the BES group of companies, with office spaces built into the stands.^[5]

Since Pilley's ownership, Fleetwood Town has earned 6 promotions in just 10 years to progress from the lower reaches of non-league football to reach the "elite 92" clubs of the Football League in 2013.^[6] This achievement is even more remarkable for a town with a population of just 27,000 or so, making Fleetwood the smallest town in the Football League.

Business Energy Solutions (BES Utilities)

Following the deregulation of the UK energy market, Pilley launched BES Commercial Gas in 2005, with his sister Michelle, as a new entrant into the UK gas supplier market.^[7] In 2009, sister company BES Commercial Electricity was established which successfully acquired an electricity supply license^[8] and live electricity supply to its first customers commenced in early 2010. Since then, both BES Commercial Gas and BES Commercial Electricity have had a combined turnover of circa. £70 million in 2014–2015, a customer base of over 35,000 businesses and a current workforce of around 350 employees.

The latest addition to the BES Group of companies is a telecommunications business, BES Telecom.

Commercial Power

In 2002, Pilley established Commercial Power, the UK’s largest network of independent utility sales agencies.

Commercial Power state that they are able to provide uncapped levels of commission to the utility brokers who work with them, providing fantastic earning potential.

Commercial Power operate independently, with no preferred energy suppliers, allowing them to offer completely impartial advice to businesses on how to limit utility costs.^[9]

Breck Apartments

In 2012, Pilley purchased a large, empty Victorian property in the heart of the market town of Poulton-le-Fylde, which has since become the 5-star gold, award-winning 'luxury' apartments, Breck Apartments.^[10]

In the community

Local employer

Since relocating BES Utilities' headquarters, to Fleetwood in 2011, the impact on the local community has been huge. Pilley's group of companies is now one of the town's largest employers with over 450 full- and part-time staff (including the footballs club's match day staff).

Junior Cod Army

As part of a "fans for the future" initiative, the club made the ground breaking decision early 2013 to offer free entry to home fixtures for all supporters under the age of 16 for the 2013–14 season.^[11] The club's adult season ticket prices are also amongst the lowest in the Football League. This enlightened approach to ticket pricing in a town which has seen more than its fair share of economic hardship in recent years has given access to live professional football for many young people who otherwise would have been 'priced out' of watching our national game.

As of December 2014, there were well over 1,000 members of the Junior Cod Army and a quick look around Highbury Stadium on a match day clearly showed the strong relationship between the club and the local community, with families and young people making up a large proportion of the club's growing fan base. In October 2013, the club attracted its highest ever attendance since becoming members of the Football League when over 4,500 watched a top of the table clash against Chesterfield.

Investing in young talent

Fleetwood Town Football Club is closely linked with the Fleetwood Town Juniors, a grassroots, charter standard club which Pilley was instrumental in forming. Fleetwood Town Juniors run boys and girls teams ranging from Under 7s to Under 16s offering a 'safe and healthy' environment for young people to enjoy active participation in organised football.

Pilley recognised that the club's junior section relies heavily upon the commitment and hard work of a large number of volunteers to sustain and grow the club, and as a result has always offered his full personal support and that of the senior club to all the many activities, including fund raising, undertaken by the juniors. Over a number of seasons, Pilley has also personally funded the purchase of the playing kits of all the junior teams, including using his BES Commercial Gas business as a sponsor.^[12]

Charity work

Community Trust

In 2012, Pilley and fellow directors founded the Fleetwood Town Community Trust, an independent, registered charity working in partnership with Fleetwood Town Football Club.^[13] The Trust's vision on its formation, was to provide a wide range of socially inclusive community, health and education programmes with the aim of making a positive difference to the lives of people within the Wyre area.

Up until December 2014, the Trust had engaged with over 4,000 individuals and by working with the Football League Trust and other Government initiatives, Fleetwood Town Community Trust has delivered programmes to meet the needs of all divisions of the community. These include The National Citizenship Programme,^[14] health awareness projects, education programmes, cycling proficiency schemes, a disabled football team and countless more community based initiatives, including the 'Saturday Morning Club' and school holiday sports camps throughout Wyre.

Trinity Hospice

Pilley is a supporter of a number of charitable organisations outside of the football club including Trinity Hospice. In Summer 2013, BES Utilities supported the Trinity Hospice Corporate Challenge.^[15] The challenge was open to companies across the Fylde Coast and each team of employees received £50 cash with the task of growing this amount as much as possible within a 3-month period. In less than 4 months, BES staff had already raised almost £2,500 for the charity.

Fleetwood Fishermans' Mission

Fleetwood Town Football Club regularly holds fund raising events in aid of the Fleetwood Fishermans' Mission and during 2013/2014, the club had donated the proceeds of matchday raffles to the Mission as well as assisting with 'bucket collections' inside and outside the stadium on matchdays by Mission volunteers.

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