Scunthorpe United F.C.

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Scunthorpe United

Full name	Scunthorpe United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Iron
Founded	1899[1]
Ground	Glanford Park Scunthorpe (Capacity: 9,183)
Chairman	J. Steven Wharton
Manager	Nigel Adkins
League	The Championship
2008–09	League One, 6th (promoted)
Home colours Away colours

Scunthorpe United Football Club are an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire.

Nicknamed The Iron, they play in the Football League Championship. They are presently the highest-placed league club in Lincolnshire.

History

Scunthorpe United's badge before the 1970s

This article or section may be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective. (August 2009)

Early years

Scunthorpe United, formerly known as Scunthorpe and Lindsey United, among other names, has existed since 1899, but did not join the Football League until 1950 when the league structure was expanded. Their first game was against fellow new entrants Shrewsbury Town.

Scunthorpe were the first club in England to build a cantilever stand, four years before Sheffield Wednesday's at Hillsborough.

Moving home

In 1988 Scunthorpe United became the first English football club in the modern era to move to a new, purpose built stadium: Glanford Park.

When it became apparent that the Old Showground needed significant investment to maintain its fabric and to make it comply with new regulations introduced in the wake of the Bradford Fire Disaster (which the club were unable to make due to financial difficulties) the decision was made to relocate. The ground was sold to the former supermarket chain Safeway and the search was started for a new location.

Land was secured near the village of Gunness in what was then the administrative area of Glanford meaning that the new ground was outside the boundaries of Scunthorpe (although this changed with the re-organisation of local government in 1994 as both Scunthorpe Borough Council and Glanford Borough Council became North Lincolnshire Council).

At this time there were no grants available and the development had to funded with the cash from the sale of the Old Showground, sponsorship, directors' loans and bank loans. This lack of outsider cash means that Glanford Park was built in a rather simplistic, box-like style, with a significantly smaller capacity than the Old Showground.

The ground was so named because it was sponsored by the Glanford Borough Council. The site of the former ground is now home to a Sainsbury's store and can be found at the junction of Doncaster Road and Henderson Avenue. When the store was opened a plaque was laid where the centre-spot was, just in front of the delicatessen counter; the plaque has since been removed.

The ground, though small, offers some of the best views of the pitch in any league due to the simple layout and lack of supporting pillars providing an unobstructed view.

Ups and downs

Glanford Park

In 1992, the club made the third division play-off final, at Wembley, losing out eventually on a penalty shootout to Blackpool (see here).

The club again made the play-off final in 1999, again at Wembley, this time beating Leyton Orient 1–0 after a goal from Alex Calvo-Garcia. They were promoted to the Football League Division Two. They were subsequently relegated at the end of the following season.

They started the 2004-05 season in Football League Two, but gained promotion to Football League One. The Club was nearly relegated to the Conference National the season before. In the 2004/5 season they led Chelsea, the Premiership champions, 1–0, in the FA Cup 3rd Round, but were denied as they eventually went down 3–1.

2005–2006 season

Scunthorpe United opened the 2005-06 season away at Brentford F.C., where they lost 2–0. However, after this early setback, things picked up for The Iron, who at a couple of points early in the season occupied first place in the division. Their early season good form hit a peak with away victory to League One high-fliers Huddersfield Town by four goals to one. Teenage strike partnership Andy Keogh and Billy Sharp made a name for themselves at this time.

However, subsequently they slid down the league table somewhat, due in part to two 5–2 defeats, away at Blackpool and Barnsley.

The club reached the third round of the FA Cup, beating Bury and Aldershot Town before losing 3–1 away to the Premiership's Manchester City despite leading 1-0 at one stage.

In the 2005–06 season the club finished 12th in Coca-Cola League 1. Billy Sharp finished the season joint top scorer of the season with 23 league goals, sharing the Golden Boot with Southend's Freddy Eastwood.

2006–2007 season

The league season got off to a poor start, with Scunthorpe losing 1–0 to Bristol City. This was followed by 2–2 draws with Swansea City and Crewe Alexandra. Scunthorpe also went down 2–1 to Rotherham United on 19 August, which was followed by a 1–1 draw with Brentford. On 1 September, Scunthorpe gained their first win of the season, 2–0 away to Gillingham. However, Scunthorpe then suffered a 1–0 defeat at the hands of Oldham Athletic. Scunthorpe then won their first home game of the season, beating Port Vale 3–0, quickly followed by a home win over Cheltenham.

The Iron set a new club record when they achieved a 16 game unbeaten sequence after drawing 1-1 at Brighton on 17 March 2007. This run continued for another 3 games, setting a new club record of 19 games without defeat, until Northampton Town beat The Iron 2-1, bringing the run to an end.

On April 14, 2007, Scunthorpe beat Huddersfield 2-0, after two goals from Billy Sharp, thus ensuring their promotion to the Coca Cola Championship. They also clinched the title on 28 April 2007, despite a 3-1 defeat at Blackpool. Scunthorpe recorded another 3-0 home win and later were crowned champions of League One.

2006-2007 was arguably the Iron's best season to date. The number of points achieved (91) and the number of goals scored by Billy Sharp (30) were greater than those achieved by any other team in the Premiership and the Football League.^{[citation needed]}

Cup Competitions

A 4–3 extra time home win against local rivals Lincoln City in the Carling Cup earned the Iron a big money match against Premiership side Aston Villa, at Glanford Park. Aston Villa won the match 2–1. In the FA Cup, the Iron beat Cheltenham Town 2-0 after a replay. In the second round they lost to Wrexham 2-0, missing out on the third round for the first time since the 1999/2000 season. The Iron also lost to Port Vale on penalties in the second round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

2007-2008 season

Scunthorpe's return to this level began with an away match against newly relegated Charlton Athletic. The first match between these sides in 33 years resulted in a 1-1 draw at The Valley.

This was followed a week later with the first home game played by United in the second tier of English football for 43 years with Burnley being the visitors. Scunthorpe ran out 2-0 winners.

Scunthorpe enjoyed a good start to the Championship season, rising as high as 4th at one point, however their form, especially during the second half of the season faltered, this included a 5-0 defeat to West Brom. They did manage to earn some wins in the second half of the season, most notably against former Premier League club Charlton Athletic and promotion chasing Plymouth Argyle.

On 12 April 2008, their fate was sealed 4 matches prior to the end of the season with a two - nil loss away to play-off candidates Crystal Palace.

They finished second from bottom in the final table with 46 points, drawing their final game of the season 3-3 with bottom-placed Colchester. [1]

In the Cups, Scunthorpe were knocked out of the Carling Cup after a first round 2-1 home defeat to Hartlepool United. While in the FA Cup they were knocked out in the 3rd round after a 1-0 defeat away at Preston North End.

2008-2009 season

Scunthorpe were drawn at home for their first game of the season, losing 2-1 to Leeds United. They also lost to Walsall and then lost to Hartlepool in the League Cup. Since that defeat their form picked up, with wins against Peterborough, Stockport, Brighton and previously unbeaten Carlisle.

They picked up more wins against Hereford and Yeovil, before a 2 - 2 draw with Leyton Orient prevented a club record 8 wins in a row, they wont their next match against Crewe 3 - 0 and were then top of the Coca-Cola League One, they beat Cheltenham 2 - 1 away from home, to make it 10 wins out of 11 games, they drew at home with Southend United, before beating their nearest rivals Millwall 3 - 2 at Glanford Park, their unbeaten run came to an end when they lost 3 - 0 away to Oldham Atletic.

After a month of hovering in and around the play-offs, they secured the final play off place at home to Tranmere Rovers when they drew 1 - 1. They secured a place in the Championship with a 3-2 victory over Millwall in the final.

They were drawn away to Walsall in the first round of the FA Cup, they beat them 3-0. In the second round they drew non-league side Alfreton Town at home whom they beat them 4 - 0.

The reached the final of the Football League Trophy where they lost 3-2 to Luton after extra time. Their route to the final saw them beat Notts County, local rivals Grimsby Town, Rochdale, Tranmere Rovers and Rotherham United in the Northern section final.

Notable former players

This is a list of famous or notable sports persons with no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to improve Wikipedia by ensuring that there is consensus on the inclusion criteria on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the section contains only verifiable material.

• Alex Calvo García, now retired.
• Andy Keogh now at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
• Kevin Keegan, former England and Liverpool Legend.
• Ray Clemence, England international goalkeeper and Liverpool and spurs Legend.
• Jack Brownsword, made a club record 597 league match appearances between 1950 and 1965.
• Peter Beagrie, retired from playing and now works for Sky Television.
• Sir Ian Botham, He joined the team to help get his fitness back to play cricket, cricketer.
• Billy Sharp now at Doncaster Rovers F.C..
• Tony Daws now at Scunthorpe United (academy coach).
• Graham Alexander now at Burnley.
• Andy Dawson now at Hull City.
• Matt Elliott league cup winner with Leicester City, now retired.
• Tony Ford MBE, retired.
• Brian Laws former manager at club, now at Sheffield Wednesday (manager).
• Neil Warnock now at Crystal Palace (manager).
• Martin Paterson now playing for Burnley.

Players

As of 30 October 2009.^[2]

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Joe Murphy 2 MF Andrew Wright 3 DF Marcus Williams 4 MF Sam Togwell 5 DF Kenny Milne 6 DF Cliff Byrne (captain) 7 MF Matt Sparrow 8 MF Grant McCann 9 FW Paul Hayes 10 FW Gary Hooper 11 MF Garry Thompson 12 DF Rob Jones 14 FW Jonathan Forte 15 DF David Mirfin 16 MF Martyn Woolford

No. Position Player 17 FW Ben May 18 MF Michael O'Connor 19 MF Josh Wright 20 DF Jordan Spence (on loan from West Ham United) 21 DF Jake Picton 23 GK Sam Slocombe 24 FW Matthew Godden 25 FW Peter Winn 26 DF Niall Canavan 27 MF Ian Morris 28 DF Rory Coleman 30 DF Andy Crosby 31 DF George Friend (on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers) 32 DF Bondz Ngala (on loan from West Ham United) — MF Ian Baraclough

Out on loan

No. Position Player 22 GK Josh Lillis (at Rochdale until 5 November 2009) 29 FW Adam Boyes (at York City until 16 November 2009)

Local rivals

The team's local rivals include Grimsby Town, Hull City, Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers. Matches between Hull and Scunthorpe are often referred to as Humber Derbies, due to the fact that the teams lie either side of the river Humber.

The Lincolnshire teams have met regularly in the Lincolnshire County Senior Cup.

Records

Attendances

Record Attendance (Old Showground)

• 23,935 v Portsmouth F.C. FA Cup 4th rd. 30 January 1954

Record Attendance (Glanford Park)

• 8,921 v Newcastle United, Championship, 20 October 2009

Scores

Record Victory

• 8–1 v Luton Town, Division 3, 24 April 1965 Team: - Sidebottom, Horstead, Hemstead, Smith, Neale, Lindsey, Bramley (1), Scott, Thomas (5), Mahy (1), Wilson (1).

• 8–1 v Torquay United, New Division 3, 28 October 1995 Team: - Samways, Housham, Wilson, Ford (1), Knill (1), Hope (Nicholson), Thornber, Bullimore (Walsh), McFarlane (4) (Young), Eyre (2), Paterson.

Record Defeat

• 0–8 v Carlisle United, Division 3 (N) 25 November 1952 Team: - Malan, Hubbard, Brownsword, McGill, Taylor, Bushby, Daley, Haigh, White, Whitfield, Mosby

Transfers

Highest Fees Paid

1. Martin Paterson - £425,000 from Stoke City
2. Kevan Hurst - £200,000 from Sheffield United
3. Steve Torpey - £175,000 from Bristol City
4. David Mirfin - £125,000-£175,000 from Huddersfield Town
5. Martyn Woolford - £125,000 from York City
6. Billy Sharp - £100,000 from Sheffield United

Highest Fees Received

1. Billy Sharp - £2,000,000 to Sheffield United
2. Martin Paterson - £1,000,000 to Burnley, will raise by £300,000 depending on future appearances
3. Andy Keogh - £800,000,to Wolverhampton Wanderers
4. Neil Cox - £400,000 and 1600 seats, to Aston Villa
5. Chris Hope - £250,000 to Gillingham
6. Richard Hall - £250,000 to Southampton

Women's football

The women's football club, Scunthorpe United L.F.C., who play in the Northern Combination Women's Football League, is affiliated with Scunthorpe United F.C.

Mascots

Scunthorpe United's official team mascots are the Scunny Bunny and the Scunny Hunny Bunny,^[3][4] who wear the same claret and blue kit as the team's players do.

Chants

- - The most played is Sunny Scunny Tripitakas. - Also played is Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag, Hi Ho Silver Lining by Jeff Beck, Tom Hark [as many clubs]. - A song associated with Scunthorpe United is Any Old Iron, though it is rarely sung as a chant. More common are songs indicating disdain for Grimsby Town, or suggesting that Joe Murphy ought to be the Republic of Ireland first choice goalkeeper. In 2006, the club's fans began a new football chant "Who needs Mourinho, we've got our physio" after Nigel Adkins, the club's former physio replaced Brian Laws as manager, eventually to lead United to promotion.^[5]

References

External links

• http://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk - official site
• http://heywow.weebly.com - A lopsided look at SUFC
• http://www.iron-bru.net - fan site
• http://www.studyunited.org.uk/ - Study United FC, Scunthorpe United's Study Support Centre
• http://www.claretandbluearmy.tk - fan site
• http://www.ygriffiny.com - Y Griffiny fan site