Scunthorpe United

Scunthorpe United FC is a football club from the Lincolnshire iron and steel town of the same name that was founded in 1899 who began life playing in local based leagues and then merging with rivals North Lindsey United to become Scunthorpe & Lindsey United in 1910.

In 1912 the club became members of the Midland League. United became Midland League champions in 1926-27 and again in 1938-39 before finishing as runners-up in 1947-48. The club was elected into the Football League upon expansion for the 1950-51 season.

The Old Show Ground in 2010. Now a Sainsbury's.
I found myself on the pitch once again!

As a non-league club United reached the second round of the FA Cup on five occasions. Upon entry to the League the club was placed in Division Three North of which they were crowned champions in 1957-59 with Ron Suart as manager, after which they reverted to their original title.

'The Iron' became the first club in England to boast a cantilever stand when it was erected at the Old Show Ground at the same time, no doubt assisted by the towns close links to the steel industry.

Managers came and went before United finished the 1961-62 season in fourth place in the second tier Division Two aided by the goals of prolific scorer Jack Brownsword under manager Dick Duckworth.

The cantilever stand at The Old Show Ground

However, fortunes changed rapidly at the Old Show Ground as the team was relegated to Division Three twelve months later as Freddie Goodwin arrived as the new manager. Ron Ashman replaced him during the 1967-68 campaign but couldn’t save the side from relegation.

Ray Clemence began his career in the Iron goal before Kevin Keegan made his breakthrough. Both were sold to Liverpool before United were promoted from Division Four in 1971-72. However, the jump proved too much as the team lasted just one season before returning to the bottom tier.

Ashman departed with the tenures after him seeing Scunthorpe struggle, finishing bottom of the league in 1974-75 before the former manager returned to try to steady the ship. The struggle continued with United finishing second bottom of Division Four in 1981-82 with Ian Botham making occasional appearances.

John Duncan arrived as manager as the team was rebuilt with the goals of Steve Cammack steered the Iron to promotion in 1982-83, but only after Duncan had been replaced by Alan Clarke in February 1983.

Scunthorpe were relegated again in 1983-84 from where the side stagnated back in Division Four. Mick Buxton was in charge of the team in 1987-88 as United reached the play-offs where they were defeated by Torquay United in the semi-finals.

The club sold the Old Show Ground to supermarket firm Safeway before relocating to a purpose built new stadium, Glanford Park in 1988 which was located to the west of the town. Finances were tight at the time leading to the simplistic design of the new ground.

The move inspired the team to make the play-offs again in 1988-89 before United suffered semi-final defeat to Wrexham. Bill Green had been appointed manager by the time another play-off dream was ended in 1990-91 with Blackpool winning the semi-final clash.

Scunthorpe bounced back in 1991-92 as Crewe Alexandra were defeated in the semi-finals of the play-offs which gave United their first ever Wembley appearance, which ended on a penalty defeat to Blackpool to deny hopes of promotion.

A succession of managers were given their chance, including Richard Money and Dave Moore before Buxton returned in 1996 before he was replaced by Brian Laws in February 1997. The new man oversaw an improvement.

Laws’ side reached the play-offs in 1998-98, defeating Swansea City and then Leyton Orient at Wembley thanks to a goal from Alex Calvo-Garcia. United were relegated back to the fourth tier, which was now called Division Three, in 1998-99.

In 2002-03 Scunthorpe lost another play-off semi-final, this time to Lincoln City. Laws was sacked in March 2004 before returning a few weeks later as the team managed to retain their Football League status.

By 2004-05 Division Three had been renamed League Two, with United winning promotion as runners-up. The young striking partnership of Billy Sharp and Andy Keogh helped stabilise the sides status. Law moved to Sheffield Wednesday to be replaced by Nigel Adkins in the summer of 2006.

Despite the sale of Keough the goals of Sharp fired United to the League One title in 2006-07. Martin Paterson arrived to replace Sharp who was sold on, but his goals weren’t enough to save the team from relegation in 2007-08.

Paterson was sold for a sizeable fee before the 2008-09 would see two visits to the new Wembley. The final of the Football League Trophy was lost to Luton Town. However, victory over MK Dons in the play-offs set up a 3-2 win in the final against Millwall with two goals from Matt Sparrow and one from Martyn Woolford.

The Iron retained their Championship status, but once again sold their star player; this time Gary Hooper departed to Celtic. Adkins followed him out of the door in September 2010 to take up the managers post at Southampton.

Alan Knill arrived in the managerial hot seat in towards the end of the 2010-11 season tasked with the job of rebuilding the side for another crack at promotion. Unfortunately, things did not work out as the team were relegated. Knill remained in charge until October 2012 when he was replaced by the returning Laws.

He could not save the side from relegation back down to the bottom tier and after a poor start to the 2013-14 season he was replaced by his assistant Russ Wilcox. The new man led the team on an amazing run of twenty six unbeaten games and promotion to League One.

Despite the heroics of Wilcox, it did not keep him his job as he was dismissed in October 2013, Mark Robins taking over as his replacement, after businessman Peter Swann had taken over as chairman as the club announced plans to move to a new stadium at Lincolnshire Lakes across the M181.

Robins kept the side up in 2013-14 before he was replaced by Nick Daws who in turn was replaced within a few weeks by Graham Alexander. The 2016-17 season saw the Iron finish in third place before bowing out in the semi-finals of the play-offs to Millwall.

With the side fifth in the table Alexander was sacked in March 2018 as Nick Daws and Andy Dawson were put in temporary charge. They led the side to the play-offs where Rotherham United proved too strong in the semi-final.

Stuart McCall was appointed as the new manager, lasting until March 2019 as Scunthorpe were relegated to League Two. Paul Hurst came in as McCall’s replacement as the club signed a sponsorship deal as Glanford Park became The Sands Venue Stadium.

United also announced that plans to redevelop the stadium had been passed after plans for a new site had been abandoned. The plans would see the stadium stands demolished and replaced one at a time to allow continuous use of the venue.

Hurst was dismissed in January 2020 with former boss Wilcox returning at the helm. United sat in the lower reaches of League Two in the 2019-20 campaign when the COVID-19 pandemic halted proceedings.

Scunthorpe United FC will play in EFL League Two in the 2020-21 season.

My visits

Scunthorpe United 2 Hull City 0 (Saturday 21 April 1984) Division Three (att: 8,286)

I went in the car with my mates Gary Griffiths and Adrian Waddington to a game City badly needed to win to continue their chase for promotion. It was a gorgeous Easter Saturday with a big City following in a large crowd.

I was very impressed with The Old Show Ground. It was quite basic but had good cover for fans. We had a large cover in the away end as did the far Doncaster Road End which aided the atmosphere no end. 

Many thanks to Martin Smith for permission to use his photo from the match.

The Canteliver Stand was to the left while the Main Stand stood on the Henderson Road side. It had an extended roof in a similar style to Belle Vue, Doncaster. The rest of the ground was made up of open terracing, apart from a basic cover next to the Main Stand.

The Tigers hammered Scunny, but the ball just wouldn't go on. They hit the woodwork four times before falling for a couple of sucker punches at the other end including a fine finish from the edge of the box from Steve Cammack.

Many thanks to Martin Smith for permission to use his photo from the match.

Solace was found by way of a few pints back in Scarborough, which was teeming with drinkers over the Bank Holiday.

Scunthorpe United 0 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 7 November 1987) Division Four (att:4,506)

Boro had hit the big time and entered the Football League, with a decent sized following travelling over the Humber Bridge for an eagerly awaited encounter. The fun started before kick off as an obvious home fan had infiltrated our end and was looking for trouble.

Everyone ignored him before out of nowhere a Seadog, who I shall call Mr T (very appropriately) calmly walked down and placed a punch of such ferocity, that the fan went tumbling backwards before hitting the wall at the front and falling backwards over it, cartoon style. 

At this point the police walked round the track and arrested him before their colleagues approached Mr T and thanked him as it turned out that the home fan was a regular irritant!

Boro keeper Kevin Blackwell fell awkwardly collecting a cross and broke his leg, meaning midfielder Mitch Cook had to take over the gloves as it was in the days before multiple substitutions. He had done the role previously at Slough Town in the FA Trophy, and in fairness he wasn't bad at all.

Boro weren't brilliant in the first half, but in typical Neil Warnock style they came out of the traps flying after the break. They were superb and stretched the home side all over the pitch, keeping the action away from keeper Cook. 

Steve Adams was superb up front before Ray McHale smashed in a twenty five yarder off a post to win the points. Someone looking not dislike the author may or may not have invaded the pitch at the end to hug the Boro stand in keeper

Scunthorpe United 1 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 20 August 1988) Yorkshire & Humberside Cup (att: 1,952)

Boro's first ever visit to Glanford Park saw me travel with Doomie and his dad on a rain soaked day to see Boro draw with a goal from Tommy Graham. We enjoyed pre match beers in quite a nice local pub about ten minutes from the ground.

Glanford Park was a completely different experience to The Old Show Ground. It was all covered with terracing at both ends and seats down the sides. It was symmetrical and seemed very state of the art at the time. Little did we know we would be bombarded with so many bog standard stadiums in years to come.

Scunthorpe United 0 Scarborough 3 (Saturday 1 October 1988) Division Four (att:4,167)

This was as good an away performance as I can ever remember from a Boro team. They simply outclassed a very decent Scunny side. Steve Adams hooked in the opener. Just after half time Neil Thompson walloped a thirty five yard typical netbuster into the home end goal to send the mass Seadog following wild with delight. 

Steve Norris finished off the rout. I can't ever remember my Dad been so happy at a Boro performance. We stopped at Driffied on the way home as did a lot of other Boro fans. It was quite a night for some, with the disco getting early use from our mini bus before the more senior Boro "lads" livened things up considerably!

Scunthorpe United 1 Scarborough 1 (Tuesday 23rd August 1989) League Cup Round One Second Leg (att:2,259)

Boro took a two nil lead into the second leg and secured an easy passage after Paul Dobson equalised. The home fans didn't appreciate the Seadogs signing "You'll never beat the Boro!"

Scunthorpe United 0 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 9 September 1989) Division Four (att:3,330)

Another steady performance from Boro frustrated hell out out the home side. The majestic Martin Russell sealed the points from the penalty spot. 

We had a great day on the mini bus as we were reacquainted with The Coach and Horses, our favourite pub in Barton on Humber before and after the game.

Scunthorpe United 3 Scarborough 0 (Saturday 20 October 1990) Division Four (att:2,786)

Boro's run was put to bed in emphatic fashion. I went in the car with John Huntingdon and introduced him to my favourite watering hole on the way, which was useful as he emptied the bandit much to the chagrin of the locals. 

Boro played badly and the stewards were a real pain in the newly seated away end. Not a great afternoon, although a pub stop in Beverley at the famous Nellies, AKA The White Horse on the way home raised the spirits.

Friday 9th July 2010

I was up north for a few days so I decided to make use of the incredibly cheap Megabus ticket for just £6 which dropped me off adjacent to Glanford Park. I was unsure whether I'd get access inside but I thought it was worth a punt.

The first thing I noticed that although the four corner floodlight pylons were still intact, the lights were missing. Next to the supporters "Iron Bar" was a gate open where they were taking in a delivery and putting away furniture. I saw a bloke and asked him if I was OK to pop inside. He was indifferent but I convinced him.

The stadium hadn't changed from my last visit. The pitch sprinklers were fortunately on to cool me off as I took the photos. I was soon on my way and I decided to walk into town, reasoning that it couldn't be too far. Another error!

I called in at Sainsbury's where The Old Show Ground once stood. I didn't even see a plaque to let future generations that this was the place where the likes of Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence and Ian Botham plied their trade for The Iron. I find that quite sad.

The older pictures of the Old Show Ground in this post have been uploaded from Google Images.