PRE-SEASON TICKETS: The Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm are pleased to announce that tickets for our 2017 pre-season games against the Sheffield Steelers & Coventry Blaze are now available to purchase. Tickets can be ordered online by clicking here, by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.

We are now nearly eight weeks into the new era of Manchester Storm and there has been a lot of hard work has been going on behind the scenes to make sure that we will be ready for the new season.  We want to share with you some of the things we have been up to and explain a little more about the structure of the club going forward.

The new ownership group has been figure headed by managing director Gordon Greig, who has been travelling down from his home in Glasgow 2-3 days a week to ensure that we have been able to look at all areas of the business and put our plans in place.  One of the big things for Gordon has been meeting old sponsors, new sponsors and looking how best to move the business side of the club forward in all departments.

One of our first moves after taking over at the club was to appoint Ryan Finnerty as head coach and director of hockey operations. Finnerty has already begun building his team for next season and there are more exciting signings on the way. Ryan is not only passionate about ensuring we have a great on ice product, but also how we make sure we find a way to develop as much local talent as we can.  One of the things he wanted to do was to link up with the junior development system and played a major role in the arrival of Manchester Storm Academy.

There are two more people who complete our ownership group, Jamie Tunstall and Mark Thomas.  Jamie is the new operations director for the Manchester Storm.  He has a wide range of experience in the business world and is working very closely with Gordon and Ryan on how to move the club forward with the special responsibility for HR.  Jamie has been around British hockey for quite some time now and will do a lot of different jobs behind the scenes to ensure the smooth running of the club.

Mark Thomas also forms part of the ownership group. Mark is the club’s new development director and will form the link between the Manchester Storm Academy and Manchester Storm EIHL team.  It’s a perfect fit in many ways as Mark himself came through the system and went on to play at the top level winning the Elite League and gaining international recognition.  He also has two boys playing for the Academy and is fully aware of what talent is there, and will work with another former Storm player Nick Crawley, who is the head coach of the Storm Academy, to ensure we get the most out of the talent at our club.

Neil Russell will continue in his role of general manager.  One of the main focuses for Neil this season will be to take on the mantle of increasing the commercial sponsorship of the club. Neil will continue to play a big part in raising the Storm’s commercial profile and moving it forward. Hannah Fitzsimons will continue the work she began last season.  She is responsible for arranging the links with the club and schools, arranging school visits for the players and various other sponsorship promotions.

We also added a group sales manager to our off ice team which is another exciting progression.  This person will be in charge of bringing in groups of people to the games throughout the season.  This is a really important role, which has worked very well at other clubs in the UK and one of the things we have done since taking charge at the Storm Shelter is to look at where others have had success and work out how we can use some of those ideas.

We have some big ideas for the Storm and the plans is to be competitive on the ice and Ryan has certainly made a great start in recruitment, with some high calibre signings and more to come. As a hockey club we will only be as good and as strong as our off-ice team and with the structure we now have in place, we will be working hard to fill the building on a regular basis.  We all know how exciting a night watching the Storm is and we want to share that experience with as many people as possible.

Thank you very much for all of your positive support so far, seeing the number of you renewing or buying new season tickets has left us excited for the new season.   It won’t be long now and we are looking forward to seeing you down at the Storm Shelter to welcome the new players to the club in August.

PRE-SEASON TICKETS: The Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm are pleased to announce that tickets for our 2017 pre-season games against the Sheffield Steelers & Coventry Blaze are now available to purchase. Tickets can be ordered online by clicking here, by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.