What did they come to us wanting?
"We are in need of a website as our current scenario means we will no longer be able to access our league-provided website. Can you help us recreate the site, get it properly hosted, and make it easier for our team to manage updates going forward?”
Scunthorpe United FC needed stability and control. Their website had been tied to the league’s service, and when relegation meant the service would end after a grace period, the risk was clear: lose the platform, lose the site.
The immediate goal was to protect continuity by re-platforming the website onto a setup they owned and could sustain long-term. But the bigger ambition was to get the site “back in the hands” of the Scunthorpe United team; with a clear, collaborative process for updates, improvements, and content changes after launch.
In short: remove platform risk, regain control, and build a workflow that makes ongoing updates straightforward and predictable.
What did that actually translate to?
This wasn’t just a technical migration, it was a continuity problem with real reputational risk. A football club’s website is a living thing: it has to keep pace with fixtures, news, ticketing, partnerships, and the day-to-day cadence of the club. Losing the platform (or scrambling to replace it at the last minute) would have been disruptive at best; and brand-damaging at worst.
The deeper requirement was independence: Scunthorpe United needed a website that wouldn’t disappear because of an external service change, and a foundation they could build on season after season.
And once the platform risk was removed, the second challenge emerged: making the website easier to run. Not everyone on the client side can (or should) be involved in planning future web improvements, so the process had to be simple: a shared dashboard where updates can be requested, tracked, reviewed, and signed off without endless back-and-forth.
What we agreed to...
A re-platformed, independent website setup, paired with an ongoing dashboard-driven workflow, so Scunthorpe United FC could confidently run and evolve their website long after launch.
Working closely with the Scunthorpe United FC team
- Re-platform the site away from the league dependency to ensure long-term continuity
- Provide a stable hosting foundation and ongoing technical support
- Implement performance improvements including Redis object caching, caching strategy, and a global CDN
- Create and maintain a shared client dashboard for update requests, review, and ongoing improvements
- Integrated an Opta data feed so fixtures, results, tables, and key league stats stay up to date automatically
So we got to work
We secured long-term continuity first, then built a collaborative system for ongoing updates, so the club could manage change with confidence.
The answer?
Take back control; then make updates easy to run.
We started by addressing the core risk: the website’s reliance on a platform that was being withdrawn after relegation. The re-platform ensured the club had a site they owned and could keep running, regardless of league status or third-party service changes.
With continuity secured, we focused on the day-to-day reality: a club website needs regular change. That meant improving the parts supporters use most; like finding and browsing news on mobile, keeping player and squad information consistent, and giving sponsors a clearer place within the experience. To keep that sustainable, we built a shared dashboard that gives the client a clear place to request updates and see progress, and gives our team a structured way to deliver improvements for review, without updates becoming scattered across emails and messages.
To keep key match information current without manual admin, we also connected an Opta data feed keeping fixtures, results, tables, and core stats automatically up to date across the site.
Alongside this, we implemented performance and reliability improvements, including Redis, caching, and a global CDN, to make sure the site responds quickly for all users, wherever they’re browsing from.
The result is a website that’s not only independent and protected from platform risk, but also easier to run with a workflow that supports continuous improvement.
- Faster load times for users via caching + CDN
- Reduced operational risk (no platform lock-in)
- Clear request → review → publish workflow through the dashboard
- A foundation that supports iterative improvements over time
Did it work?
For Scunthorpe United FC, “did it work?” isn’t just a single traffic spike; it’s whether the club can rely on their website long-term, keep it moving, and avoid platform-driven disruption.
By re-platforming away from league dependency, the club’s website is no longer at risk of being withdrawn due to league status or service changes. And with the dashboard workflow in place, updates can be handled in a structured, visible way, making it easier for the Scunthorpe team to keep the site current.
Finally, performance upgrades (Redis, caching, and global CDN) help ensure a more reliable experience for users accessing the site, supporting day-to-day browsing as well as higher-attention moments.
- Continuity: Website no longer dependent on league-provided platform (relegation-linked platform risk removed)
- Accessible experience (86/100): Built to be usable by more supporters; including people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, or needing clearer contrast and structure.
- Search-ready foundation (85/100): Set up so Google can properly read, understand, and surface key pages; helping news, fixtures, tickets and commercial content get found more reliably.
- Data accuracy: Opta feed integration keeps fixtures/results/tables updated automatically
- Reduced risk of unexpected website loss or rushed replacement
- A more reliable, more usable experience for supporters and stakeholders, with strong accessibility and search fundamentals
- Less friction in getting website changes requested, reviewed, and delivered
However there were other benefits
The biggest shift wasn’t just technical, it was confidence. With the site no longer tied to a third-party platform that could be withdrawn, the club can plan ahead without worrying about the foundations disappearing underneath them.
Day-to-day, the shared dashboard workflow also creates clarity. Instead of updates being lost in threads or handled reactively, there’s a single place where the Scunthorpe team can request changes and review progress, which makes ongoing website management calmer, quicker, and more predictable.
And because performance improvements are baked into the setup (Redis, caching, and a global CDN), the site is better positioned to serve users consistently, supporting the club’s wider commercial, partnership, and community goals over time.
A measurable success
A website the club controls + a clear update workflow = stability you can build on
The biggest win was independence and control. By re-platforming away from league dependency, Scunthorpe United FC now has a website that isn’t vulnerable to service changes linked to league statusm it’s a foundation the club can rely on long-term.
On top of that, performance improvements (Redis, caching, and a global CDN) support a faster experience for users, and the shared dashboard workflow makes ongoing updates easier to request, track, and review.
