Sponsor Who Never Paid a Single Club Opens VIP Lounge in Maybole, Offers Trump Turnberry Guests a Shuttle and a Handshake
Hugh Clarke, the sponsor who left Partick Thistle, St Mirren and Falkirk with unpaid bills, has converted a Maybole garage into a VIP hospitality venue and now runs a shuttle service for Trump Turnberry guests, charging them for the privilege of hearing his business plans.
Hugh Clarke, the football sponsor whose unpaid debts to Partick Thistle, St Mirren and Falkirk are still discussed in Scottish boardrooms, has opened a VIP hospitality venue in Maybole and is now running a shuttle service for guests of Trump Turnberry, charging them for the privilege of hearing his business plans.
The venue, a converted garage on the high street, offers what Clarke calls «the full Ayrshire welcome»: a handshake, a laminated menu of future projects, and a two-hour presentation on his next big deal. Guests are collected from Turnberry in a minibus driven by Clarke himself, who insists on pointing out every closed-down business he once sponsored.
Local officials have been forced to redraw the town's traffic plan after the minibus began making eleven daily round trips. «We had to widen the junction,» said a South Ayrshire council roads officer. «Mr Clarke now has his own lane.»
Clarke has also introduced a loyalty card for Turnberry guests: five visits earn a sixth free, provided they listen to the full presentation again. The card is not accepted at any of the clubs he once sponsored.
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