The Iron Interrogation.......

The first Iron Interrogation with Scunny fan Nicola aka @Footychick25

First game, home and away, you went to?

This is really quite embarrassing, as it makes me look like one of the things I despise the most in footballer, a glory hunter, because my very first ever live Iron game was actually at Wembley stadium. That's pretty terrible isn't it? Well, I wasn't really much into football until I went to secondary school and then started to to take more interest in it, but even then only 'supporting' Liverpool for no reason other than Michael Owen set my young teenage heart aflutter. Just a typical teenage girl really but the night Scunthorpe beat Swansea to get to Wembley in May 1999, I could sense the excitement through the radio commentary that it was a really big thing to happen to Scunthorpe. So I decided to attend the Wembley game with with my dad and brother and got hooked from that day forward so yes I was one of the 8,000 or so 'casual' Iron fans there that day but I stuck with it!

I imagine my first game at Glanford Park was at the start of the 99/00 season, it obviously wasn't as memorable as the game against Leyton Orient at Wembley as I cannot recall it.

The best Scunny game you've seen?

In my ten years supporting the Iron, I think I have been fortunate to witness many truly amazing games, particularly in our champions year where there were many accomplished away performances at the likes of Carlisle, Crewe and Tranmere. I particularly love the topsy-turvy dramatic games like Scunthorpe 4-2 Oldham in 2006 and Scunthorpe 3-2 Sheffield United in our first Championship season, these games were right humdingers! Special mention also goes to the 4-1 win at Huddersfield in 2005 when teenage terrors Sharp and Keogh, tore up the Terriers. However, the single best game simply has to be the Millwall game at Wembley obviously the scenes at the end of the game will always live long in the memory but the game itself was an utter classic and up until that point, one of the best games the new Wembley stadium had witnessed. The game had rich drama, a world class goal and was poised on a knife edge able to swing either way at any moment, it was a great advert for League One football and a game I will never forget, when Woolford fired home, it was an incredible feeling.

Your favourite Scunny player ever and why?

There are so many to choose from, we have actually been blessed with a lot of talent over the years, but as a reasonably young fan, I have to go with one from the mostly fabulous noughties era and even then I still cannot choose easily. Okay, if I have to go with just one I shall have to go for Billy Sharp, he was the first player I ever felt compelled to have adorn the back of my shirt, and made such an astonishing contribution. Gary Hooper bagged a similar number of goals and occupies a similar space in my heart as a super strike ace but Sharpy swings it because he helped deliver the one thing I never ever thought possible as a Scunthorpe fan, a league title. He also provides some of the single best memories I have as an Iron fan, like his debut goal against Nottingham Forest and a scintillating partnership with Andy Keogh, which made going to games an absolute pleasure and never a chore. Quite simply he is an Iron legend.

Which player from a rival club, Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, etc, do you wish the Iron had signed during your time as a fan?

Tough question! You don’t ever like to admit your rivals are any good, let alone have a player you desired, they tend to be disliked because of the shirt they pull on. I was always jealous that Andy Dawson guided Hull through the divisions because he was ours first! I’m going to have to say the ubiquitous Lincoln duo Simon Yeo and Ben Futcher. Why? Well not because I had any great desire to see them in an Iron shirt but if we took them out of a Lincoln shirt, City might not have been such an enormous thorn in our side without them, they were very much a pain in the ass before we started climbing the divisions. (and had the last laugh)

Best goal you’ve seen Scunny score ?

With all of these questions requiring a single answer, many candidates immediately come to mind, we have scored some great goals all meriting mention such as Grant McCann’s rocket at Wembley, Andy Keogh’s delightful finish from the halfway line against Carlisle, Lee Hodges run at Doncaster, Andy Dawson’s pearler of a free kick in the Humber Derby, or Jamie McCombe stunning Glanford Park against Barnsley. The single best goal I’ve seen though has to be Jermaine Beckford’s incredible goal against Rotherham in our title winning season, technically it was out of this world and had it not been scored in the ‘lower divisions’ we would have seen and heard a lot more about it. Incredibly, he scored a very similar goal against Crewe just a week or so later and has since gone on to show flashes of his undoubted talents at Everton.

Best individual performance, for and against, you’ve seen ?

I know there have been times I’ve left games thinking player X of the opposition ran the show but I’m struggling to think of a good example now, I’m loathe to say Dean Windass but he always seemed to have a blinder when playing us. I’m going to go with Robbie Fowler for single best individual performance though. Having taken a shock half time lead against our illustrious opponents at the City of Manchester Stadium, I think we were actually good value for it and looking quite the better team, we probably fancied our chances but didn’t count on Robbie Fowler in emphatic mood. In 16 minutes he obliterated all hopes of us causing a titanic upset and proved there was definitely life in the old dog yet. It probably wasn’t the most complete performance I’ve seen against us but he had a devastating impact.

Best individual performance I’ve seen for Scunthorpe, it’s very difficult to single out one outstanding performance, instead I’m going to salute the entire team effort in the game against Oldham in 2007, down to 9 men and, in a top of the table clash, the Iron were leading 1-0 and defended SO heroically with 9 men for well over 30 minutes, blocking absolutely everything that the Latics threw at us, with goalkeeper Murphy and his reshuffled defence deserving of special praise, it looked like they were going to hold on for an incredible win but heartbreakingly conceded in the fourth minute of 5 stoppage minutes after an almighty goalmouth scramble.

What is your high and low point of being a Scunny fan ?

Highs and lows is a very apt description for the Scunthorpe United journey I’ve been on so far, the high points are obvious, promotions but the ultimate high point has to be a tie between being crowned league champions, and retaining our Championship status. The first is something I never thought I would see, my home team with that little podium and the banners that proclaimed us as ‘Champions’ it was a special, treasured moment at Glanford Park and one that I didn’t feel could be beaten until we got that precious equaliser against Reading, securing back to back Championship football. The elation at that moment was outstanding because everybody understood how much it meant for a club like ours. It has to be an ultimate high.

As for low points, losing at Wembley is an awful bitter feeling that has to be up there but strangely enough it is not my most devastating memory as an Iron fan, the relegations I’ve witnessed hurt like hell as did our worrying slide towards football league obscurity but the single lowest point as a Scunthorpe fan for me is at the hands of old foes Lincoln. To recover from 2 goals down to pull level at 3-3 in an important play-off game was exhilarating, to then go on and go behind once more in normal time was careless but to then concede AGAIN in injury time to lose 5-3 was an absolute hammer blow to our chances of progressing to the Play Off Final and didn’t Lincoln just know it. I have NEVER felt lower than that from returning from a game, we had recovered stupendously well to then go on and massively shoot ourselves in the foot. Awful feeling.

Which one game made you proud to be a Scunny fan?

Again ONE game is immensely tough to name and Scunthorpe vs. Reading was a very proud night as was the Millwall game at Wembley, feeling proud to be one of the few in claret and blue and not the masses of Lion fans. The game I choose though is the demolition of Nottingham Forest in 2006. I feel this is the moment we announced our intentions as real challengers in League One and really made people sit up and take notice. Forest weren’t so mighty in these days but they were still the team to beat in the division and for us to do so emphatically in their own backyard was such a special moment. Prior to the game, we were dismissed offhand (despite the fact that we had beaten them at the City Ground the previous term) and all the build up seemed to focus on the Trees. I attended the game via train from my uni digs in Lincoln and so encountered many Forest fans on the way, there was much teasing of me in my Scunthorpe shirt all the way on the walk to the City Ground. On the way back after the 4 nil humiliation, there was only scowls and insults as the embarrassed Forest fans scurried home. It was a headline making scoreline that really illustrated how far Forest had fallen, Forest 0-4 Scunthorpe United. It sure looked good and got people talking, as Forest fans bemoaned their team, getting beaten by humble little Scunthorpe, all I could feel was immense pride to be a Scunthorpe fan.

Which one Iron game that you’ve missed do you wish you were at ?
In terms of major games, I’ve been at all the ones that’s mattered over recent years, Wembley x3, MK Dons second leg, Tranmere when we all but secured the title, Shrewsbury in 2005 but there have been a smattering of league games over the years where I’ve thought ‘damn I wish I had gone afterall’. I understand Hooper’s hat trick performance at Brighton was one to remember if you saw it and on seeing the result at Derby 2 seasons ago I did quite wish I had trekked there in the snow. My ultimate ‘turn back the clock moment’ though is the game against Swansea in the play offs 1999, from what my family said and from what I’ve heard from fans since, it really was a magical atmosphere and game that has rarely been replicated at Glanford Park and I really do wish I could have savoured this occasion if I had got into supporting Scunthorpe just a little bit earlier, I feel this is the one big game I have missed.

Guilty Pleasure- which one player that everyone else hated did you love ?

I think I have always loved the fans favourites, I’m not sure how popular or how well liked Justin Walker was back in the day but I certainly loved him and I never even saw him play…The obvious answer for this is Jim Goodwin but I neither loved or hated him, just indifferent, Kevan Hurst never really had enough impact to be considered a fans favourite but I loved him probably more than I should have done.

Which is your favourite, most unbelievable, rumoured Scunny signing ?

Have we had one? I cannot recall any glamorous unbelievable rumours as people just don’t tend to care about us enough to make up crazy rumours, we’ve had a few crazy bids for players we realistically didn’t have a hope of signing at the time, for example we were linked with a bid for Freddie Eastwood in his prime and were expected to believe David Nugent was seriously considering turning down then Championship Preston North End in favour of us.

Realistically, name one player you wish we would or could sign this summer ?

I’m still of the opinion we need a striker and there’s a few good ones around that I don’t think would blow our budget, somebody like Adam Le Fondre would be perfect and I don’t think he is too unrealistic a target.

Which is our most important signing so far this summer ?

Of the three I will go with Jimmy Ryan who was highly rated in his division last season by many and should be a good addition to the team. I’ve seen very little of the new signings so far so it’s difficult to judge. The potential most important signing is yet to happen, getting Michael O Connor to sign a new contract, although sadly I don’t think this is going to happen.

Where do you think we’ll finish up at the end of the season ?

It’s a very competitive division with some very strong teams this season, I don’t see us being amongst the big front runners but I think we’ll be in the next bracket of good teams and I think we will challenge strongly for a play-off place. Will we end up in there? Much depends on key players staying fit, with a sure to be small squad again, avoiding costly injuries will be very important as will whether a new look strikeforce can fire. It’s also important given last season’s unusually low goal tally for an Iron side, that goals are shared throughout the team so we will be looking for the likes of Ryan and Barcham to chip in as much as Dagnall and Robertson. It’s a lot of things to hope on but if everything clicks I don’t think a play-off place is out of the question.

Who do you think will be our most important asset this coming season ?

It has to be Michael O Connor, it’s easy to overrate players in your mind when you fear that they are leaving but I definitely think he’s our most important asset, he’s still only young but I feel he is the kind of player we should be building our team around. He easily has the potential to be the best midfielder in League 1 and I would fear for our chances if he is not in the team come the start of the season.

How would you describe Scunthorpe United in 5 words ?

.Usually.Punching.Above.Our.Weight.

One players name that even now you would have on the back of your shirt ?

It’s rare that you could have a player’s name on the back of your shirt, long after they have left and not feel like a total fool but I don’t think anyone would bat an eyelid if you were walking around with a shirt, with the name ‘Calvo Garcia’ emblazoned across the back. The man is a total Scunthorpe United legend not just because of his goal at Wembley that will go down in club folklore but because he was that thing that is all too rare in football right now – a genuinely humble, thoroughly decent man, I don’t know anyone that had a bad word to say about Alex and this was emphasised by the amazing turn out for his testimonial game. He came as a young unknown footballer from Spain, and he left ensuring he would never be forgotten by all Scunthorpe fans.