Voice of the Fans: Meeting #1

Representatives of the club met with the Voice of the Fans supporters ahead of the Fans’ Forums last Thursday for the first time, with the first steps put in place for the progression of the group.

PRESENT

Michelle Harness (Chair and co-owner), George Aitkenhead, Roj Rahman, Ian Sharp (all co-owners), Matt Roberts (CEO), James Moody (Head of Media and Ticketing), Ryan Ashmore, David Cross, Eloise Nicholls (all Voice of the Fans).

APOLOGIES

Andy Leeman

UPDATES

Clarification on the Voice of the Fans

It was clarified that the representatives give a voice to all supporters and the autonomy to give their opinions, feedback and questions to four representatives to bring to meetings should fans wish to. Some supporters can confide in employees in the football club, some email [email protected], and some email [email protected], but Voice of the Fans gives another avenue to put views across, particularly for anyone who doesn’t want to come directly to the club.

The responsibility to the Voice of the Fans representatives is to bring that knowledge, feedback and opinions back to the football club in order to enhance communication streams and for positive continuous growth moving forward.

Line of communication

The four Voice of the Fans representatives are now in a WhatsApp group chat with Head of Media and Ticketing James Moody, who is leading the communication from the club’s point of view. Within the group chat, the four representatives can continuously catch up with each other, comment on relevant information, and seek clarity from the club by other means than a formal meeting.

It was also clarified that a new club email address has been set up, [email protected], whereby supporters can email in to any of the Voice of the Fans representatives. Supporters wishing to contact a specific representative should put so in the email / subject (e.g. FAO Ryan Ashmore). Any general emails will be fielded by the group as a whole.

While the club holds access to this email account, there will be no interference from club staff in this inbox. All four representatives have agreed to sign off any responses personally. It’s important to note any views expressed within responses aren’t necessarily the views of Scunthorpe United or its employees.

Continuation of communication with other supporters groups

Chair Michelle Harness confirmed during the meeting that she will continue to work directly with the various supporter groups that the club has, such as the Iron Trust, SUFC Unity Group, Irish Iron, Winterton Iron, etc.

Projects

A handful of projects were raised over the course of the meeting that the Voice of the Fans could potentially be instrumental in seeing through the relevant processes.

o Club Crest

-  MH and JM gauged the potential appetite, based on comments from the wider fanbase, of potentially returning to the Unity crest, or similar, on a permanent basis.

- JM confirmed this would be a long consultation process, as directed by the Football Association, and would have to include input from relevant stakeholders throughout the entirety of the process, including season ticket holders as a priority, as per the guidelines.

- The first step of the process would be to gauge a legitimate and significant appetite for change, in the form of a “yes” / “no” vote amongst season ticket holders before deepening the consultation to designs and overall change.

- JM explained that should the crest be changed permanently, there would be a cost implication to the club, including the changing of all signage and materials with reference to the current crest, and this would also have to be considered.

- It was suggested this could be fundraised for, if the appetite amongst the fanbase was to proceed.

o Ongoing stadium improvements

- General consensus was received that the Attis Arena is in a much improved state over the last 12-18 months as a result of the fantastic work done from all involved, especially the volunteers.

- Following suggestions from the Voice of the Fans representatives, a number of topics regarding the stadium were going to be looked at;

- EN raised her dissatisfaction with the condition of the female facilities in away grounds last season, and was tasked with collating a log of her experiences in the 2025-26 season to become a “Champion for Change” among ground grading in years to come. It was confirmed that while undertaking this research, there would be thoughts and feedback put in place to enhance our own facilities, and to ensure our standards are at the required level before levying criticism elsewhere.

- RA commented on the selection of vegetarian food on offer in the matchday catering points. It was confirmed this would be fed back to Brad’s, who have introduced a brilliant menu for the new season, to see if additional items could be offered to suit the requirements.

- It was asked whether an electronic scoreboard had been considered for the opposite corner of the stadium. It was confirmed that Mortz / Roj Rahman funded and sponsored the installation of the current scoreboard prior to becoming a co-owner and this was a costly exercise, which included additional costs for steel framing which was required. If there was a desire for an additional scoreboard, this could be another fundraising point offered to supporters to get behind.

o Voice of the Fans Charter

- It was agreed that a Voice of the Fans charter would be put together for the next meeting, and then be circulated following the approval of all representatives.

Next meeting

TBC - but intentions are to be around one-two months apart.

Contact the Voice of the Fans representatives 

As above, you can contact any of the four Voice of the Fans representatives by emailing [email protected]. Should you wish to angle your feedback, complaint or idea at someone in particular, please remember to do so in the subject header.