A brave new world......

Just a short post to make a small announcement.

Some of you will hopefully remember my questions a few weeks ago about whether you'd like to see a Scunny related Podcast or Fanzine. Well after that a few of us Scunny fans came together and started to work on a plan and that plan is now about to come to fruition. A paper fanzine was seen as too much of a step backwards and would easily be outdated in the world of instant information on the internet.

It was from their that the idea was thought up to produce a brand new Scunthorpe United dedicated fan site and forum community and today i'm happy to announce that http://www.theironsupplement.co.uk/ is now ready. The site is set to feature all the news, reports and features on Scunthorpe United by the Fans for the Fans with the help of the Fans. Prior to every match their will be a preview giving you the lowdown on the games coming up, which will then be followed by a match report and analysis of all the talking points from the games. We will also feature news on all thing happening at Glanford Park, as well as features on great moments in the Iron's history, an Iron Hall of Fame and your thoughts on what's happening with the club. The biggest thing on the site is the Forum section, we want you to give us your thoughts on everything thats happening, who's played well, who hasn't, what could be done to make the matchday better, what would you do if were in charge of the club. We'd love to hear the voices of the fans, there are more of us out their than you think and we all have oppinions on our club.

Coming in the next few days will be the first episode of the CastIron Podcast, a brand new podcast debating all the goings on at Scunthorpe United. We need you to get involved. Send us some questions or give us your thoughts via the forum or via the site. http://castironpodcast.podomatic.com/

We need you the fans to get involved. If you want to write a piece for the site get in touch, if you want to compile a match report from a game or just write about your favourite Iron moment from down the years get in touch !

The Iron Supplement is by the Fans, for the Fans, with the help of the Fans, get involved !

That's the name of the game !

The silky football played in the early part of the season was fantastic to watch but at times equally frustrating that it didn't bring the results along with it. At times it was hard to see where a first league win was going to come from but the fateful day eventually came at home to Yeovil. A couple of decent individual goals from Mozika helped the boys bring in the first three points but the performance was not the sparkling performance many were expecting. Follow that up with a win away at Stevenage, the home team had only lost there a handful of time in the previous few years, it looked like the tide was turning for the Iron. Had Alan Knill finally realised that results are the name of the game, everyone would love free flowing attacking football to bring success, it seems in League One a different approach will be needed to escape. The only problem now is how to blend the good football with the winning,  but that is the million pound question that managers up and down the country are trying to answer.
If i'm honest the season started much better, performance wise, than i was expecting. The team looked full of confidence in the early games it was just the old problem of silly mistakes in defence that were threatening to ruin the early season hopes. Looking at the team now, the mistakes are still there but the performances are slowly getting worse. Take the most recent game against Leyton Orient. They came to Glanford Park having picked up four points from a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield and a 2-1 win at home to Preston, even though they were in te bottom three they were in a decent bit of form. I think many people thought it would be an easy game after two wins. The opposite proved to be true. A dour first half performance was made to look better by a deflected Andy barcham goal that sent us in 1-0 up at half time. Three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half put the visitors in control. Barchams second was merely a consolation as the Orient back line easily soaked up any pressure the Iron could muster (not much). The most disappointing part of the game was the fact that most of the team seemed to struggle. Even Shane Duffy, who has performed well since signing on loan from Everton, was caught out on a couple of occasions. The loan signing of Nicky Ajose from Peterborough, a player who Knill had chased for much of the summer, has so far been a let down. He must undoubtedly have talent but i don't think we'll see the best of it at Glanford Park. Maybe Peterborough have been a bit savvy and realised he needs to build up his match fitness before returning to them and showing his best form. At the moment he is struggling to prove he is a 300k player, i hope for everyone'sake he proves me wrong ! One player who caused constant trouble for the back line was the veteran Kevin Lisbie. Rolling back the years to put in a man of the match performance. He showed good skill to control a defence splitting ball between Nelson and Duffy to slot the ball coolly under Sam Johnstone in the Iron goal, before converting a free header for his second. Lisbie seems just the kind of player the Iron are crying out for, much like fellow veteran Shefki Kuqi who the Iron struggled to contain at times in the JP Trophy only a few nights previously !

I'm not sure many people thought we would be lying in 16th place with 12 points from 12 games. The one thing many fans expected was a season of transition, but i'm sure many would have expected to be doing a little better than we currently are ! A couple of wins could push us up the table but a couple of losses could equally push us into the relegation fight. One thing for sure is the strikers need to start scoring a few more goals and the defence need to stop letting the mistakes ruin games. The last time a striker scored was Chris Dagnalls effort against Sheff United on September 10th. How long do we wait till we panic ? Hopefully Ajose will prove me wrong at Brentford on saturday and bang in a goal or two !

One thing is for certain it could be a long old winter down at Glanford Park if were stuck in the lower reaches of the league !

Up the Iron !

The deadline comes and goes !



Bobby celebrates his 2nd vs Hartelepool



A lot has happened in the world of Scunthorpe United since my last post. Our Carling Cup game against Newcastle nearly saw us take Newcastle to a penalty shoot out, only to lose in the final stages of extra time. A reportedly dubious refereeing performance, coupled with our ability to gift teams goals, ruined our chances against a Sheff Wednesday team who continue to falter. A crowd of 1763 saw our march to the golden arch of Wembley in the JP Trophy and a Colchester team that looked like they were happy to kick, trip and fall came away with a point from a not quite fortress Glanford Park. A few new faces have also come into the building as Nigel Adkins would say.



Mozikan man ?

Newcastle came to town probably still smarting from a couple of years ago, when a Martyn Woolford inspired Iron put the team who would run away with the Championship title to the sword. I myself listened to this game whilst driving around the Isle of Wight, I'll admit i did get very excited when Daggers put us 1-0 up. Sadly it was not to be. A fantastic free kick from Taylor and a screamer from Sammy Ameobi beat us on the night. With only 48 hours until the game at Sheffield Wednesday many people thought tiredness would be a problem but not on this occasion. If it weren't for the defence pressing the self destruct button again we could have come away with at least a point. The JP Trophy clash with Hartlepool was never going to be a classic and the low crowd weren't treated to the best game they had ever seen. The real highlights being Bobby Grant's two goals and the performance of young defender Ashley Palmer who had a steady game at right back. A Colchester attack lead by former loanee Kayode Odejayi never really looked like causing too many problems, if only Nelson and Reid had read the script. Again the two looked nervous and made mistakes, both contributed to Colchesters equaliser courtesy of another former striking target Steven Gillespie. Bobby Grant again got the goal, this time a bit of luck went his way with a clearance hitting him in the chest/face and flying into the back of the net, only for him to spoil the day for himself and his team mates by getting sent off after getting involved in some handbags following a clash between Jimmy Ryan and Magnus Okuonghae. One plus point from the game being the debut of new signing Damien Mozika. A player Alan Knill knew from his time at Bury, the Frenchman put up a fight to get away from the Shakers after finding out the Iron were interested. He made up part of a solid central midfield with Sam Togwell, looking happy to sit back and help defend but also getting forward well when called upon. One thing he may need to improve is his shooting, one shot brought back memories of Icelandic midfielder Bjarni Larusson, hitting the roof of the stand above the terrace was more than a little bit off target ! I get the feeling that Mozika might become a bit of a cult figure if for nothing else than his fantastic haircut. Not many players sport a blonde mohican !

The other deadline day signing, Everton defender Shane Duffy has yet to don the claret and blue, i'm sure he will at least bring some competition for places at centre back, by all reports he is a giant centre back who played one game on loan at Burnley last season and apparently has a promising future ahead of him.



Oliver Norwwod arrives from Man Utd



A bit of a surprise move was the loan of young Manchester United midfielder Oliver Norwood. The player came in just before the Newcastle game and many people thought he was a replacement for Michael O'Connor who continues to be linked with moves away from the club. The young Northern Irishman with the Burnley accent, (i was confused as well when i met him, his grand parents are Irish apparently) has missed the last couple of games due to International duty but comes back into contention for the weekend game with Sheff United. When you come through the ranks at Old Trafford you've got to be a good player, but with the likes of Carrick, Nani, Giggs, Anderson, Young and Cleverley in front of him his future could well lay in North Lincolnshire. At one point the squad was looking very thin, Michael Collins didn't really look like making the step up in O'Connors absence, but with the players Knill has brought in we look good in the middle of the park. The only problem could be how do you accomodate Togwell, O'Connor, Ryan, Norwood, Mozika, Duffy and Barcham into the same match day squad never mind the first eleven.

One thing for sure is that Knill is still looking to bring in more players to shape his own squad. The most recent reports are of him bringing in a young striker from a Premier League club, no names on who that is, though apparently we were looking at young Liverpool player Nathan Ecclestone in pre season. The news that former Stockport, and current Norwich City striker Oli Johnson is training with the club and will get a run out in the reserves at Middlesborough, also shows that Knill is looking for re-enforcements in the striker department. Bobby Grant has started to score goals but whilst Chris Dagnall has looked a willing runner so far he still finds goals hard to come by and Jordan Robertson is out with his broken ankle, whilst Garry Thompson is, at the minute, finding it hard to show the scoring form he showed a couple of seasons back in the Championship, that first goal will surely lead to many more when his confidence is back.

Hopefully the loan signing of a Premier League striker, as well as the possible signing of Johnson from the Canaries, will finally see the squad get the results that some of the fantastic attacking football has warranted at times. The only thing that still worries me is the fact that the defence continues to make mistakes, much like last season was ruined by this problem at least this time we look capable of scoring the odd goal here and there. Knill is slowly turning the squad into his own. The teams best two players so far this season have been Knill signings in Jimmy Ryan (who we now know could cost up to 200k) and Andy Barcham, hopefully he has found another star in Mozika, the early signs suggest he has. Maybe, just maybe, someone like Oli Johnson can be another in the line of striking talents to come off the Glanford Park production line. We all know it's about now that we could do with another one to show up !

Bobby comes good at last....



Signing of the Summer ?



So the trip to Accrington brought back memories of the good old days in League Two. A warm beer, an open terrace that looks decidedly dodgy to stand on and the sight of as many flags as fans in the home end makes you remember how good we've had it in the last few years. The fact that we could have been two, or maybe three goals down in the first ten minutes, was a little worrying to say the least. You could give the defence the benefit of the doubt though to a small degree. I struggled to watch the action from the terrace with the blazing sun in your eyes i'm sure the back four were having a few problems. Young Accrington striker Kurtis Guthrie gave Nelson and Reid a good game in the early going, bustling through the defence at ease and bringing a couple of good saves from Josh Lillis. The Iron got more and more into the game, only troubled by a hard tackle on former Accrington favourite Jimmy Ryan, that would see him miss the next couple of games with a dead leg. Late goals from a Chris Dagnall penalty and a curling Andy Barcham shot from the edge of the box put the Iron through to a mouth watering home tie with the once mighty Newcastle United at Glanford Park. The same team that only a couple of years ago were humbled by "Little Old Scunthorpe" will probably give the fixture a bit more of a go this time for fear of the upset happening again.

The following home game against Preston brought back terrible memories form last season. The night that Ian Baraclough lost his job, after a 3-0 defeat by then fellow strugglers PNE was possibly the lowest pint in my time as a fan. This time a few of the players looked like they had a point to prove. A slow start to the game looked like our undoing again. An early strike from Ian Hume, the man who on that fateful night nicked my stool at pitchside for a few minutes, scored from outside the area, allowed to have a couple of touches before smashing past Josh Lillis. Preston manager Phil Brown did a dance of joy on in the dugout after the goal, much like he did last time at Glanford Park. A late goal, smashed home by that man again, Andy Barcham sent the perma tanned former Hull manager in to a fit of rage on the touchline. Holding his post match team talk on the pitch will probably have embarrased his players into pulling there socks up in the future. One player missing from that game was Jordan Robertson, afterwards it became clear he had broken his ankle after falling heavily after a Sam Togwell challenge in training. You've got to think he's a bit unlucky, only playing a few games before missing out for what will probably be a good few months, hopefully he'll be raring to go on his return to action !

Jordan Robertson
Unlucky ?

Following on from a good point gained against a decent looking Preston side was the visit of Oldham. The first game i've watched from the stands for a while was a terrrible footballing spectacle. Another slow start was our downfall yet again. Oldham looked to exploit our full backs at every opportunity. Cross after cross was whipped in to put pressure on the back four. A fantastic curling strike from David Mellor put us 1-0 down. Chris Dagnall levelled the scores, with a solo effort that brought back memories of a wonderful Paul Hayes goal scored in a Humber derby a few years back. The fans got behind the team well from there but a late free header condemed us to defeat. It feels strange watching from the stands after only seeing games from the touchline. You might not believe me but you really don't hear much from the stands when at the side of the pitch. The only time you really hear anything is after goals are scored. It was good to be amongst the fans and hear the cheers, the boos, the chanting. The fans got behind the team after the equaliser but when the game was going against us the fans got on the backs of some of the players. I'm a believer that if you pay your money, your entitled to your opinion, so i'll not say they're not right to voice your opinions. It just goes to prove though, if the game is going right the fans are more likely to be on your side, but as soon as your start to struggle their on your case, sometimes i think it would be better if they were behind you whatever was happening.

The one thing we seemed to be missing was the creativity of Jimmy Ryan. So far this season he's looked a very good signing. A lot of rumours seem to say that we are waiting to see how much Ryan's tribunal fee will be before we sign anyone else, this could be part of the reason why numerous trialists played for us in pre season but none of them were signed, or could that be a conspiracy theory ? Ryan and Barcham look like our best players by far. If only Knill was able to bring in another nine players he wanted we might be running away with things !



Bobby Grant scores in pre season

What did i know. It's only a couple of weeks ago i wrote of Bobby Grant as having no hope of becoming a goal scorer. Despite a couple of pre season penalties he'd never scored for the first team. The odd run out here and there from the bench, as well as starting at the likes of Leicester last season the young scouser has never really set the world alight. Until saturday against Charlton. It was a bit of a surprise to see him in the starting line-up ahead of Garry Thompson but manager Alan Knill seems to have a lot of faith in Bobby to score the goals the Iron so desperately need someone to score. Thompson has done well to play so many minutes so far this season, after last season turned into a washout with a persistent groin injury, but has looked like it's too much too soon at times. The fact that Thompson and Chris Dagnall play a similar kind of game doesn't suit the team either, so Grant's energy and long distance shooting ability is a different approach. The fact that, by all accounts Grant had a stormer against the Addicks. Two goals, including a late late equaliser, repaid some of the managers faith. It's still to be shown whether he can be the answer to the goal scoring puzzle in the long term, one thing for sure is that the fans will have a bit more confidence in him now. The next week sees us play the game against Newcastle at GP followed by the trip to Sheffield Wednesday on saturday. Hopefully we can keep a Rob Jones as quiet as a certain Mr Hayes was at the Valley. Knill seems to be putting his stamp on the team. A good passing side that play fast flowing football is a joy to watch, the slow start to games could just be the thing that holds us back. It's interesting to see that in all the league games so far we've had to come from behind after conceding early on. If we can start games as well as we've been finishing them then good times could be ahead, I've certainly got my fingers crossed for at least one trip to the big smoke to see that famous arch again !

Up the Iron

Kick off time....

So that's the summer over with then. The serious stuff has now begun !



Milers new boy Raynes

The final week of pre season was met with some fantastic news. Someone actually wanted to take Andy Hughes off our hands. Sorry did i hear that right. Someone wants Andy Hughes. After rubbing my eyes for a few minutes to make sure i'd read that right, a big smile spread across my face. It couldn't be true could it ? Well yes it could. The club in question being Charlton, Alan Knill must have been chuckling as he drove home from Glanford Park. A big earner that never really showed a lot at Glanford Park, aside from a fantastic debut performance many fans were not sad to see him leave. On the eve of the new season Michael Raynes also left the club, an undisclosed fee taking the former Stockport Captain to the Don Valley Stadium. A bit more of a shock than Hughes being allowed to leave, Alan Knill has since said that players had to leave the club if he seriously wanted players to come in. You'd hope that the money saved from the wages of Hughes and Raynes would be put towards at least one striker coming into the building. One player that we have seemingly missed out on is Blackburn defender Gavin Gunning, an on/off move to the SPL seems to be his port of call after impressing somewhat in claret and blue !

And so to Wycombe.



A strange trip down with banter flying from all angles, in a car containing four well travelled football fans. A half way stop, including a couple of maccy d's double cheese burgers and a few neanderthal Leeds fans in the car park let you know that football was really back. Even stranger was the half time conversation i shared with BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull and football presenter Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes on the virtues of the football league show, beta that if you can for randomness !

Jimm Ryan

You really can't beat the feeling of walking into a football ground you've never been to before. Wycombe's Adams Park taking me up to the 80 mark, 75 of them being following the Iron, not quite the 92 yet but a few more this season will push me ever closer ! Also a strange feeling walking out of a press room and up the tunnel onto the pitch to disappointed faces who think it's a player coming. I'm still waiting to sign my first autograph for a young fan who thinks i'm a random footballer, i just don't have the heart to do it, one day i'm sure i'll feel like a devil and give it a go !

The game was a little bit of a worry, a poor pre-season at best left you hoping that we'd seen the worst. No-one knew if star man Michael O'Connor would line up in midfield, who would start up front or whether the previous weeks defence would turn up. The minute the team sheets were handed out with the name O'Connor in our midfield i was quietly confident that we would do pretty well.



Josh Lillis in goal is looking more confident by the game, even if he does look a little hesitant still whilst comanding his area at corners and set pieces. The back four of Eddie Nolan, Michael Nelson, Paul Reid and Andrew Wright looks as good a back four as we've had for a while. Both full backs are equally adept at attacking and defending, Nolan put in some decent crosses from the left in support of Jimmy Ryan and Andrew Wright looks to have gained more confidence now he looks to be first choice right back (at least untill Cliff comes back). The midfield looked a good attacking unit. Togwell and O'Connor look comfortable playing alongside each other, both knows what the other man brings to the pitch after playing together for a good spell of last season. Mark Duffy looks like he will flourish at this level. The step up from Morecambe to the Championship was a big one, but League One looks like being a good playground for the tricky winger. Jimmy Ryan looks the player we missed for much of the last couple of seasons. During saturdays game he brought back memories of Lee Hodges for me. I suppose the comparison is warranted, they are both small players who look like they are more than happy with the ball at their feet and are at home running at the opposition back four, i think he could be the signing of the season, not just for us but for the whole of League One. The forwards, Jordan Robertson and Chris Dagnall looked lively. Dagnall in particular having one of his best games in an Iron shirt. Robertson will get better and better with the more minutes he plays.



Mark Duffy



Anyway back to the game. Right from the kick off the Iron poured forward looking for the seasons first goal. Mark Duffy showed fantastic skill on the wing, beating full back  Andy Sandell time and again, both with sheer pace and the odd touvh of trickery. It must be so frustrating putting in cross after cross only to see the chances go begging time and again. Robertson being the worst culprit early in the half, an inch perfect cross volleyed high over the bar from the un-marked front man. You get the feeling that if he had scored that effort the team would have gone on to score four or five. When he finally scores his first proper goal (pre-season doesn't count for me) for the club i think he'll go on to score quite a few in a claret and blue shirt. Not to be left out Jimmy Ryan was also working well down the left flank, linking up well with Nolan and providing a lot of quality balls to his team mates. It came as somewhat of a surprise that Wycombe opened the scoring on 24 minutes. The goal came massively against the run of play, the home team scoring from a corner swung in by Scott Donnelly, beating centre half Paul Reid to the ball in the box. It was a small worry that the heads would drop just like last season, but they didn't. This seemed more like an inconvenience to an Iron team determined to prove a point at this level under new(ish) Manager Knill. It came as no surprise that the scores were level at half time. The teams pressure finally paid dividends but from an unlikely source. Centre half Michael Nelson stooping to steer home a bullet header from a Michael O'Connor corner, before celebrating by kissing the tattoo's on his well inked arm and jumping into O'Connor's arms. The look of relief on Knill's face told the whole story. Finally the pressure had paid off. It's strange to note that a centre half has scored a goal on the first day of the season in three of the last four years. Izzy Iriekpen at Charlton, Rob Jones at Reading and Nelson at Wycombe, does that mean that we use all our summer training to get that one set piece goal and then don't get any more all season ? I'll let you decide that one !

O'Connor pulls the strings

Anyway. The second half comtinued much the same as the first half finished. Apart from a couple of hopeful penalty appeals from the Chairboys and a shot from the evergreen Gareth Ainsworth that hit the post the newly promoted team never looked like getting the win. The Iron's midfield continued to dominate. Ryan never seemed to be stood still and always wanted the ball, Duffy continued to terrorise, Togwell broke up the play at will and Michael O'Connor looked like he'd not missed a second of action, spraying balls around the pitch at ease. For a man that was a doubt to even play a part in the game Northern Irishman O'Connor played the full 90 minutes and never missed a step. The only thing i could hold against him was the shot that trickled straight to keeper Nikki Bull (who has got to be Wycombe's star man for the season, onthis display anyway) set him up for what looked a certain winning goal. Speaking of winning goals...i nearly jumped off my pitchside stool when Chris Dagnall's header hit the back of the net in the dying seconds....only for a linesmans flag to cruely deny him his moment of celebration. After seeing it in pictures and on television i still can't see how he was offside.

At the end of the day i was expecting a struggle and a long afternoon. What we got was a good performance, i honestly think if that had been our fourth of fifth game of the season we'd have had a hatfull of goals, that little bit more match sharpness and we'll be a force to be reckoned with at this level. The small matter of a striker coming into the building is still a small worry for me, someone needs to come in before the transfer window slams shut in a few weeks time, with Garry Thompson and Bobby Grant as the only real attacking options on the bench, along with Andy Barcham still to come, you get the feeling that an injury to a forward could de-rail us somewhat.

On now to visit Accrington Stanley (who are they ?) in the Carling Cup. Another ground to tick off the list for me. Lets hope for another good performance, a few goals and, hopefully, a big team away from home in the next round. Fingers crossed !