AT Crewe Nub News we aim to support our community. We promote shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We have been profiling some of these businesses and organisations as well as some of the people and personalities who make the town special in a feature called 'Up Close in Crewe'.

We caught up with Leanne Edmonds who is planning to make Crewe Alex as pleasing to the eye off the pitch as they are on it in her new role as the club's hospitality and events sales manager.

Leanne comes from a family of diehard Alex fans and was bitten by the bug when she was a youngster, volunteering for the St. John's Ambulance Brigade at Gresty Road.

Now she has been recruited to help boost a commercial operation that is taking off under the club's new board with investment in facilities for supporters and guests.

And Leanne should know a thing or two about generating interest among the fan base for she won a club competition, herself, to attend Crewe's Wembley Play-off Final win against Brentford 24 years ago.

That propelled the club into the second tier of English football and the heady days when the likes of Wolves, Nottingham Forest and West Brom were regular visitors to Gresty Road.

If the newly-named Mornflake Stadium is to play host to that level of football again then driving commercial revenue off the pitch could be key to manager Dave Artell's ambitions.

For perhaps too long reliant on income from player sales, the Alex are looking at new avenues to make money by best utilising the ground's facilities.

Focusing on just football effectively means the club is leaving its function rooms sitting empty for 320 days a year. Non-matchday activities are becoming increasingly important and Leanne says pulling in all sections of the community will be her aim.

"We need to let people know that we are here for all sorts of events. If you are having a 40th birthday party you might ring the Alex up, but are people aware there are other things they do here?," she says.

"We want to be part of the community and host family events. It doesn't have to be about the football. We want children to be asking mum and dad to bring them because they're the next generation of fan.

"My role is really exciting as it didn't exist before. But working with James (Beckett), the commercial manager, we can make it what we want to be.

"We want to be proactive as well as just being reactive. We will be looking at different packages, conferences and other events like proms, charity dinners and corporate dinners. It's really a blank canvas to work on."

Leanne will be able to lean on her experience in some of South Cheshire's renowned hospitality venues.

She was senior conference and events manager at Rookery Hall for more than six years where she organised over 90 weddings a year and events ranging from small board meetings to conferences for up to 2,000 people.

Before that she was responsible for events at Crewe Hall during a 10-year stint.

"I have a lot of local contacts and businesses and we want to get them in for the matchday hospitality as well as using the meeting rooms in midweek," adds Leanne, 33.

Alex fans returning to the ground in the coming weeks after almost a season blocked out from attending behind-closed-doors games will be pleasantly surprised at the renovation that has taken place over the summer months.

Function rooms look fresh and bright after new carpets were laid and tables and chairs installed.

The redecoration is all part of the relatively-new Alex board's commitment to improving the matchday and non-matchday experience.

Making the most of the whole ground, even the potential to use the pitch for pop concerts, as well as building the weddings market are all being assessed as sources of future revenue.

"We're open to exploring new revenue streams whether that is events in the hospitality lounges at the ground or even events on the pitch.

"We want to try things and we've got some big ideas," says Leanne.

Hospitality packages have been revamped in readiness for the fans return after the club took stock of the offers of similar-sized clubs like Shrewsbury and Port Vale.

While a new partnership with Ridgway Catering should be appetising for fans using the concourses for refreshments during games.

In the hospitality lounges, the former Gold and Silver packages have been replaced by Club Alexandra (a light lunch pre-match) and Club 1877 (a new top-tier hospitality with members treated to a three-course meal).

While the Legends Lounge is a new hospitality package based in the upstairs suite in the Family Stand aimed at supporters who just want a bite to eat along with a few drinks.

Alex boss Artell is booked in for his pre-match thoughts and analysis in the Wrights Lounge before every match to package members as the club looks to tap in to the corporate sector as well as loyal supporters.

It's an inspiring scene and there is plenty of hard work ahead, but Leanne is relishing the challenge after digging in during the pandemic in her previous role at Rookery Hall.

She recalls: "I was in the skeleton team when everyone was furloughed there, so I was the only person in the sales office. It was quite an emotional experience as I was dealing with brides whose dates we were having to move three or four times.

"But for my own sanity it was good to go to work. I've got a husband and a three-year-old, so we have to balance things. Luckily my husband works 9 to 5 Mondays to Fridays and that has given me the flexibility of working evenings and weekends which I have done in all my job roles.

And she adds: "My husband and dad are diehard fans - my little boy has had every Alex kit since he was born.

"Crewe Alex has been a big part of my life growing up, so the opportunity to work for the club which means so much to the family and also the local community is a privilege. I cannot wait to watch the business side grow and be part of the team".

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