OPPOSITION Q&A
Andy from @iron_stats discusses Scunthorpe United
I’m a lifelong Scunthorpe fan who was born and raised in the town. However I moved away some years ago and the distance means I get to more away games than home games nowadays.
EXPECTATIONS FOR 22-23
I expected us to struggle due to the direction the club had been going in over the last 4 years but still didn’t envisage us losing 6 consecutive games, sacking our manager and being bottom by September.
RECENT FORM
We won our opening game vs Yeovil but then lost our next 6. However we’re now unbeaten in 3 (W1, D2). Our away form is horrific! We haven’t won away since Boxing Day (15 games) and we’re on a run of 1 away win in 37 games. We’ve also not kept a clean sheet in 21 games.
KEY PLAYERS
Rob Apter. A young winger on loan from Blackpool until January however he’s too good for us and should be playing in a higher league. He’s scored 1 goal and registered 3 assists in his last 3 games.
THE MANAGER
Club legend and current youth team manager Tony Daws has stepped up to become interim manager following the dismissal of Keith Hill. He’s supposedly only in charge until a potential takeover is completed, but there’s no knowing when that might be! After losing his first game in charge, we drew with Altrincham and York and then came back from 2-0 down to beat Dorking last Saturday. He’s been playing 5-2-3 / 3-4-3 recently which I’d expect to continue this weekend.
LIKELY LINE-UP
GK Dewhurst, RB Rowe, CB Ogle, Boyce, CB Taft, LB O’Malley, CM Butterfield Beestin, ST Apter, Nuttall, Lavery
THE OWNERSHIP
Where do I start?? The owner came to the club promising Championship football and a new stadium, however we’re at the bottom of the National League and no longer own our ground. He spent a lot of money in the first few years, being promoted from League Two in 13/14 then losing in the League One play-offs in 16/17 and 17/18, however the spending wasn’t sustainable and he’s made cut backs ever since which has seen us in free fall. Add to that sacking managers on a yearly basis, being involved in signing players then making his son head of recruitment, taking away ownership of the stadium and generally alienating the fans. The fans want him to go and although he stepped down as chairman at the end of last season in an attempt to sell the club, that’s yet to materialise. And it’s unclear how long he will / can continue to fund the club under a new owner is found. Worrying times.
AWAY SUPPORT
I’m not sure we’ve sold many tickets so far due to the distance, our form and the rail strikes however the die-hards will be there and we have a few fans living down south who will fancy the trip.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Strengths – Attack – we’ve got players who can create and score goals. Weaknesses – Defence – we make too many individual errors and concede far too many goals.
PREDICTION
1-1
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