The club would firstly like to place on record its sincere thanks to Danny Stamp, Nicole Hind and everyone associated with the Smoking Goat for their hard work in the 2023-24 campaign. They stepped forward to get involved in the club during a turbulent time, and when no one else wanted to take control of the hospitality areas, and delivered exceptional levels over the course of the year. It goes without saying, we wish them well in their future endeavours, since taking on Take a Gander, and also looking to open a Smoking Goat outlet in Lincoln.
Moving forward, with Danny indicating he would not wish to continue forward into the new campaign in the hospitality areas, it became apparent the club had to move quickly to try and bring the operation back in house. By being in-house, although a big challenge, there is much more reward attached to this, with all profits, such as bar sales, catering sales, and event sales coming to the club.
Iron Events has been set-up to separate the football club from the hospitality side of the venue. One of the aims is for the Stadium to become a seven-days-a-week operation, with the Attis Arena open to all to enjoy a range of events from business hire, wedding receptions, wakes and more, while the club will also look to utilise the restaurant more to the general public in future months once the infrastructure has been restored.
Tasked with taking on the mission of pulling together the departments ahead of the new campaign is Kelvin Stanford, who has been appointed Iron Events’ Head of Hospitality and Events.
Kelvin has a long and illustrious background in the industry, most recently at Super League side Hull KR, where he was the Catering and Events General Manager and stayed for over two-and-a-half years. In leaving the rugby side, he comes to a job closer to home, and to a team in which he supports, shortly following the birth of his daughter in recent months.
Prior to being at Hull KR, Kelvin had also spent nearly eight years representing Delaware North, who are the hospitality providers at Wembley Stadium. He worked there as a Quadrant Manager at the stadium, while also having a two-year stint at Derby County’s Pride Park as their Head of Concessions.
Kelvin also had further hospitality experience prior to this, working at venues such as Aintree, Cheltenham Racecourse and the O2 Arena, along with other Stadiums such as Villa Park, Leicester Tigers and Wolverhampton Wanderers. It goes without saying, Scunthorpe United is excited to see the expertise and ideas which Kelvin brings to the table to get us up and running once more.
Kelvin officially joined the club in April, and has been working hard behind the scenes as the season came to a close to assess what needs to be done in the short, medium and long term to get the conferencing, hospitality and events side of the football club back up-and-running.
While this process may continue to be a work in progress, and we appreciate patience from all, work continues behind the scenes to get things back up to scratch.
Speaking at the start of June following a short time in the job, Kelvin said: “I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to join my hometown club! Once I knew of the club’s interest, it was a very quick decision to make the move, this is a massive project and I relish the challenge ahead.
“The recent history of the club has been well publicised, and as a supporter I have watched from the stands as Michelle and the Board have fought to save our club. Now I have the opportunity to play my part, and I’m excited by the opportunity in front of us.
“The rebranding of Iron Events will enable us to have a clear identity, and allow us to clearly market our events and packages separately from the football side of the business. The supporters have been fantastic in their support of the club, and now with the catering being back in-house every penny spent in the bars, catering points and restaurant will be re-invested back in the club and will fund further developments, so I urge fans to continue to frequent them on a matchday. We have some exciting partnerships and collaborations to announce in the run up to the next few weeks, all of which will benefit the fans and the club.
“I am keen to deliver the best matchday experience possible, and will be working hard at turning the Attis Arena in to a social hub for the whole community.
“This is a fantastic club, and I’m proud to be a part of it, I can’t wait to see what Andy and his team deliver on the pitch. Up the Iron!”
For any enquiries, or for bookings, please email sales@scunthorpe-united.co.uk.
