Good evening, Iron fans.
Well, what a day last Saturday versus Yeovil was!! What an atmosphere! So proud!
Thanks to Keith, staff and players for a terrific result. The support you gave the lads was immense and Mark Donaldson got us all rocking in the Marquee before the game. A big thank you to Max and the Community Trust for purchasing the Marquee and backing me and the club, which is something I have appealed to our other supporters' clubs to embrace. Indeed, I had a really fruitful meeting with Neal Campbell of SUOSC about plans moving forward, and kind words from Winterton Iron and Irish Iron in particular have been well received. It was great to see Bernard at the game. A meeting is planned with Iron Trust members John Needham and Tony Gosling to discuss their standpoint.
We now focus on two away games at Maidenhead and Woking where Neil Wright and I will hopefully be meeting our southern-based supporters in a local pub before the game. I’m sure lots of Iron fans will be in attendance and joining in the National League tour.
I’m pleased to announce that subject to ratification, 'The Corner' will re-open versus Solihull. I have listened to the opinions of many of our supporters and with a guarantee we get a minimum of 60 fans buying tickets for the section we will facilitate. Phil Jacklin and I will review on a match-by-match basis to ensure we are all on the same page.
There will be some limitations in place for Directors Box entry also. After speaking with the Safety Advisory Group, certain criteria will be put in place, including clearer signage. There is a potential trip hazard and the gantry steps that need to be addressed in terms of the walkway which many supporters see as a thoroughfare. This is not a thoroughfare and we advise the following:
Persons travelling through this area, please be through and seated 10 minutes prior to kick-off. At half time, once the Directors Box is cleared, then access will be permitted and at the end of the game allow us 10 minutes to secure the area please. Supporters with mobility issues will be given preference and we will adopt a common sense approach towards access.
Looking slightly ahead, on the 20th v Solihull a couple of belters!! Firstly, Scunthorpe boxer Gemma Richardson will parade her Commonwealth Games silver medal around GP before kick-off. We have been in regular contact with Gemma throughout the tournament and she deserves a rapturous reception. Also, my mate Chris Hope will be our special guest in the restaurant. Hopey is an absolute legend and of course captained the Iron to Wembley success versus Leyton Orient in 1999. Chris will be sharing stories and meeting our guests in the restaurant at 2pm next Saturday. Tony Daws, Steve Housham and Paul Lemon were fantastic guests versus Yeovil and plans are afoot to get more of our our former heroes to attend our home games this season in the restaurant.
Our push regarding Community Champions has gone down brilliant within North Lincolnshire. I’m at the point of establishing a 10 person committee with a diverse membership and some powerful voices, with further details to follow. Another planned Youth Board meeting is also in the pipeline - their ideas are the mechanism to drive the club forward, such as live music and 'The Corner'! I will be putting out a date soon for further discussions. On that note of fan engagement, Julie Taylor has joined the gang, Julie is a lifelong supporter and valued volunteer and is now our fan liaison officer. It's another voluntary role (sorry Julie!) to get fans thoughts. Julie will feed back to Neil and I, and will be a huge asset given Julie has already been a key contributor to the Fans' Panel last season. We will have details of this season's Fans' Panel in due course. Give her a shout: fans@scunthorpe-united.co.uk.
Every one of our supporters are important to us. I had a lovely chat with Sue Leaning, a long-standing season ticket holder, this morning. She unfortunately can’t attend our games after an accident. I’m sure we all wish her well.
The media, marketing and commercial team are doing an amazing job promoting our club in the community, with posters and flyers are all over North Lincolnshire. Please get in touch if you can help our club with any promotional exposure. We need to shout from the rooftops about the Iron and keep the foot on the pedal! A crowd of over 3,000 was a great start to the campaign and now we have the chance to build on that with two very attractive home games coming up.
A huge thank you to all those travelling to support the team at Maidenhead and Woking, I will be there and I know hundreds of you will be also!UTI Lee