Six professional football clubs have joined together to form one of British football's first commercial cooperatives to exploit marketing and advertising opportunities.

The consortium, comprising Crewe Alexandra FC, Macclesfield Town FC, Port Vale FC, Stockport County FC, Stoke City FC and Wrexham FC, has appointed sports sales and marketing company, Goodform, to find commercial opportunities which benefit any or all of the clubs.

Chairman of Crewe Alexandra FC said the cooperative approach could reap dividends for the clubs involved: 'So far, we believe we are getting offers which are bigger and better than we could get on our own.' Commercial schemes to be presented to the clubs so far include those by Hilton Hotels, Npower and Rumsey Travel.

Managing director of Good form, Stuart Dalrymple said today's professional football clubs must work harder to protect and grow their resources: The concept of bring clubs together to work as a cooperative has so far worked very successfully. Today's climate isn't easy for sports clubs, but we are confident that this initiative will be a great commercial success for all partners. Details: +44 (0)2476 537033