Optimum Procurement has announced a procurement and fleet services co-sourcing agreement with Everton Football Club.

The deal runs through to the end of 2015 and sees Optimum supporting existing Everton staff in non-playing related procurement activity.

Everton personnel will work closely with Optimum, relying on their procurement expertise and dedicated fleet team to reduce costs, improve sourcing efficiency and update internal processes.

Robert Elstone, chief executive of Everton, said: “Everton’s history shows that we are often first to implement new ideas and thinking both on and off the pitch.

“This co-sourcing initiative with Optimum Procurement reinforces our determination to continue that trend and enhance our procurement capability and supply market leverage with a leading procurement service provider.

“We are committed to making Everton a benchmark football club and this means that we are continuously looking at ways to improve our efficiency by challenging what we buy and where we buy it from.

“Optimum is a cost reduction specialist, operating across a wide range of categories and we are looking forward to working closely with them to help free up key resources.”

Optimum’s focus is to add significant and sustainable commercial value to Everton in a number of ways.

Peter Rushton, chief executive of Optimum said: “We are delighted to be working with one of biggest names in the history of the game.

"Everton’s core values determine that only the highest standards are acceptable and this includes their vision for how they want to procure their goods and services.

“We are providing Everton with professionally qualified procurement resources which will ensure savings are maximised and supplier risk is minimised.

“Our continued success in the sports sector, supporting Lancashire in Cricket, Bradley Smith Racing in MotoGP and our existing relationship with Manchester City in football means we are confident we can make a real difference at Everton.”