Any old Iron anyone?
Posted on October 20th, 2009 | 13 Comments |
Scunthorpe have been up and down (the various divisions over the years) more than a tart’s knickers, from successful promotion to subsequent relegation the next season, and have yo-yo’d around between divisions one and three.
Moving from their previous home, the Old Showground, to the new purpose built Glanford Park in 1988 was a big step forward for the club. Currently one of the smallest grounds in the Championship with a capacity of 9088, away fans who normally have an allocation of 1678 tickets, are housed in the South stand. Previous high profile players Kevin Keegan and Ray Clemence, both played for Scunthorpe in the late 60’s before leaving for Liverpool.
The 90’s saw two Wembley play off visits for The Iron, and they must have enjoyed their trips to Wembley, which continued on into the last decade. Scunthorpe were League one champions 2006-07, before seeing a break in 2007 from Brian Laws wo had been with them for 10 years.
The new boss Nigel Adkins led United to a record breaking season in 2007, which saw them promoted as champions of league one on 91 points. However, that yo-yoing trait wasn’t over as 2008 saw them hit the banana skin again as they slid back to Division one.
Last season saw The Iron win promotion back to the Championship, after beating Milwall in the play-off finals. So to tonight, the 3-1 win against Sheffield United last Saturday would be a welcome result for The Iron fans, who’s team came into that game on the back of a couple of defeats. Scunny are now in 18th place in the Championship with 14 points after 12 games.
With Scunny losing half of the 12 league games they have played, and having conceeded 22 goals to our 6 we should be able to predict a win. If only our strikers had more of a habit of finding the net, if we had players who played in their rightful positions, if we had width, pace, creativity, sufficient attacking options, not a makeshift defence, but hey this is Newcastle so anything could happen.
Team news thus far –
Us
We can pick from a ‘full squad’, with the exception of the injured quartet of Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Barton and Amoebi. It would appear that Hughton is going to persevere with Carroll and Harewood and leaving Ranger on the bench (aarrrggh!!!).
Scunny squad
Goalkeepers: Joe Murphy, Josh Lillis, Sam Slocombe.
Defenders: Marcus Williams, Kenny Milne, Cliff Byrne, Rob Jones, David Mirfin, Jake Picton, Niall Canavan, Andy Crosby, Jordan Spence.
Midfielders: Andrew Wright, Sam Togwell, Matthew Sparrow, Grant McCann, Martyn Woolford, Michael O’Connor, Josh Wright, Ian Morris, Garry Thompson.
Strikers: Paul Hayes, Gary Hooper, Jonathan Forte, Ben May, Adam Boyes.
Courtesy of .com – the news is that striker Ben May (ankle) and defender Kenny Milne (knee) are both out, while midfielder Michael O’Connor serves a one match ban after five bookings.
Frankly we know nothing about any of this lot, which is why there is as good a chance of another banana skin as anything else. However, I do still predict a win but only if we play much better than the dross served up at Forest on Saturday evening. Hughton, buoyed by his recent good news, needs to stop the rot before it really begins. Starting tonight!!
like ive just says on .com if we carnt turn owa scunny the neet,ashley needs to think again about giving CH the job,im not having a dig a scunthorpe,BUT COME ON.