DOES the name above the door really matter? Well, yes, to some is certainly does.

News of a new stadium sponsor was pushed out by the club late on Sunday morning, ensuring there would be only one topic of conversation among Wanderers fans over lunch, or a late weekend pint.

According to the club’s official communique, the offer of naming the stadium had been taken to more than 400 companies by leading sports agency SGI, with around 20 expressing further interest. And, in the end, the honour fell to an organisation just one junction down the M61.

Toughsheet have been one of Bolton’s real business success stories of recent years. Along with some pioneering work on plastic and waste recycling they have established themselves as the UK’s leading provider of dampsheet membranes – a product used in near-enough every building which lays a concrete floor.

That expansion has led to some seriously impressive figures. The workforce has been expanded to more than 80, and in 2021 Toughsheet’s profits were among the 100 fastest growing in the country, according to the Sunday Times.

Recycled building products may not be as sexy as, say, a major clothing and leisure brand which also had roots in Bolton, but its upward curve should nevertheless a source of some local pride.

But let’s address the elephant in the room. Toughsheet is a name to conjure with, especially in the banter-driven world of football fandom. It isn’t lost on the company itself – and owner Dougi Mercer is delighted by the idea of Jeff Stelling, Gary Lineker, Gary Neville or Jack Dearden trying to wraps their lips around it on a regular basis.

They want their name to be recognised nationally. And Toughsheet had the financial wherewithal to make that happen – the club underlining that this deal eclipsed even the money shelled out by Reebok over the course of seventeen years between 1997 and 2014.

To some supporters, however, the schoolboy humour of it all has been difficult to accept. There has been some blow-back on social media, some ridicule nationally, and it would not have been unexpected.

“We know people are going to take the mickey a bit,” Mr Mercer told us last week. “But we’re OK with that. We want to have a bit of fun and help the club at the same time.”

Like Macron and the University of Bolton, Toughsheet will have a battle on their hands just to get themselves recognised above the original sponsor, Reebok, in some of the older fans’ eyes.

An inevitable by-product of opening a stadium complete with a corporate link, the sportswear firm lingered long after combining with Adidas and swearing off football altogether – albeit a decision they have since altered.

Then there is the problem of shorthand. The University of Bolton Stadium very quickly morphed into the UniBol for some, not least space-restricted headlines writers.

There will be a natural consensus on the new stadium name too. Whilst the ‘Toughsheet Stadium’ may have been a jarring thought at first, the Toughsheet Community Stadium softens it further, and the TS Community Stadium rolls off the tongue quite well.

There was also the matter of a backstory – both in the company’s local history, its owner’s relationship with the club, and also the tragic passing of his late wife, Bernadette, which led to the decision to take the plunge and become the stadium sponsor.

Once the story was explained without the dispassionate corporate speak and jargon which so often accompanies these official announcements, some supporters changed their mind, or at least became more accepting of the new name. Others may take some time.

Wanderers supporters tend to do self-depreciation well. If any fanbase can ride the rollercoaster they have over the past decade and still be smiling, then surely the odd risible link on Soccer Saturday won’t necessarily be a major problem?

As with any club, fans tend to be happy when their team is winning on the pitch. Should Ian Evatt’s side book a Papa Johns Trophy final at Wembley by beating Accrington Stanley on Wednesday night, then the agenda will change once more.

And if they don’t? Well, Wanderers had better work even harder to make sure the Toughsheet Stadium is playing host to Championship football next season.