Darlington-based Harvey & Hugo has been enlisted to help the club tap into new commercial opportunities and raise its profile among businesses and within the local community ahead of the planned move.

It is currently sharing facilities at Bishop Auckland, with a planned return to Darlington for the 2015-16 season.

“The move back to the town requires a significant amount of preparation and planning, not just the capital aspects of the facilities,” said the club’s CEO Martin Jesper.

“It is crucial that the club builds awareness and momentum behind the impending move and, in Harvey & Hugo, we believe we have an outstanding local partner which has the expertise to help us deliver the board’s sales and marketing initiatives and embed a highly effective commercial growth strategy with fans, local businesses and community partners.”

Charlotte Nichols, managing director of Harvey & Hugo, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting our local team and working on what we believe is a hugely important project to bring the club back into the town. We’ll be working hard to re-build old links and forge new ones between local businesses and the club, as well as raising awareness in the community of its ambitious plans.”

“We are now finalising the details of those exciting plans and are delighted that Charlotte and the Harvey & Hugo team will be helping us maximise our presence as we look to embed the club back in town on solid financial and commercial foundations.”

Mr Jesper also added: “We would urge the fans individually and collectively, through the various supporter groups, to make a real difference to the match day experience for all the fans and thereby help Martin Gray’s push for promotion and also help fund the Return to Darlington project.”