Scunthorpe

Relegated to National League North. Seems like yesterday we were playing them in the Championship. Yeovil look likely for the drop as well. Hope Torquay can avoid it. Just shows how quickly the slide can happen.

 

Hope York stay up as well.

 

I thought the same. Very bad news for Scunthorpe fans.

 

Absolutely devastated for them. I have family over that way and they can't believe it.
I truly hope they get things sorted off the pitch and come back next season at the first time of asking.

 

Didn’t realise butterfield was playing for them

 

Only 32 still. Feels like he's been around forever. Possibly didn't quite achieve as much as he should have in his career.

 

It's not nice to see them struggling. A good away day is Scunny. Hope they can work their way back to the EFL.

 

Seems like only yesterday that Ian Botham was playing a few games for Scunnie. Now he's in his late 60s and he's on telly advertising equipment to improve the blood circulation in your legs. I've no idea where the time went.

 

Scunny have been stagnating since they bandied around talk of a new stadium. Several years of mismanagement. Even more so than we’ve seen.

No money spent on the team in years. I too have family over there, well, in-laws and extended family, the Mrs is from there.

You do fear that they might not survive. Scunthorpe as a place is on its arse (the last rites of its heavy industry, the steelworks, seem likely to be being read soon), football team against the wall. Unable to compete in any way against relatively nearby cities like Hull, Lincoln and even Doncaster. Even losing jobs out towards Immingham.

Mrs’ mum and step dad have a few properties (not exactly a portfolio, more they managed to keep hold of their respective properties when they got together and bought one more house and a flat) which they rent out; other than the one my sister in law and her kids live in they are looking to sell them all as they think the value is going to drop quite rapidly.

Shame really. One of those houses was our retirement plan…

 

As usual in this situation, those that have put a club up sh*it creek can, and eventually do leave for somewhere else.
And then its the fans who never do have that option, who have to suffer and pick up the pieces.

 

Doesn’t seem 2 minutes since Dimi Cavare scored a screamer to rescue a point for us there. In fact, it barely was. They looked a decent side that day. A spectacular fall from grace.

 

My first away day was to the Old Show Ground for an FA Cup Third Round tie in 1964. Scunny were Second Division, a league above us. It was a cracking cup tie in front of a big crowd and I was entranced by it from my perch on top of the concrete shelter by the corner flag.

It looked like we were heading out until two late goals from Johnny Byrne and Eddie O’Hara forced a replay which we won at Oakwell.

Terrible news that they are now in such dire straits.

 

It’s so conflicting

The thing that makes the English leagues so fascinating , enthralling is situations like this that make the pyramid meaningful

But then again it’s this dynamism that’s attracted the money and investment that has afflicted the game to make situations like this so dire for affected clubs

I’m torn between mourning what might happen to Scunny, Yeovil and Torquay while being excited for every Woking or Dorking that gets their chance

 

A mate of mine is a Scunny fan. I’m leaving it till tomorrow to text him. It’s shocking what’s happened to them, but I fear the worst is yet to come. But looking at the National League North, including the Phoenix clubs, I counted 7 former League teams in there. There’s none in the National League South. Hopefully they can turn it round and storm back through, and then in a few years can just look upon next season as one where they crossed 20 new grounds off and filled every away end.

 

I've just had look and counted 9. God knows what Hereford are doing in the northern section though.

 

This guy makes excellent documentary style videos on this sorta stuff, he's brilliant. Really goes into detail & does an excellent job at explaining the situation. Scunny have had some fantastic league talents over the years (a lot they shouldnt really have afforded at the time), hope to see them return swiftly to the league.

 

I was born in Scunthorpe and my first football game was at the Old Showground in a friendly against the 1980 Liverpool team featuring some of the best players to ever play in England (Dalgleish, etc). The next season I saw them host Spurs.

Sad to see them fall so far.

 

And in the house of Lords using his expertise in cricket to help with policy decisions on related topics like Brexit....

 

That was my first away game too. The pitch was devoid of grass

 

Most pitches were in those days, at that time of the year. I just have vague pictures in my head of a packed ground with more grandstands than we had at Oakwell, down both sides, and the Reds putting up a good show against a Second Division side. Always fascinated by their left back’s name as well - Jackie Brownsword, their regular penalty taker