Ask any lower-league football fan which team has had the most misery, and it’s probable they’ll say their own. However, many will count themselves lucky when looking at Scunthorpe United.
The side currently sit rock bottom of the Vanarama National League with just three wins from 23 games.
Winless since October, they have only picked up one point in the Iron’s last seven league games.
Attendances are falling through the floor, and ownership & fans have little to none transparency or relationship at all. The playing squad’s confidence at an all time low.
Despite this, it’s hard to believe Scunthorpe were playing in League Two last year. They finished the season in 24th place, winning only four of 46 games, conceding 90, with a record low points total of 26 points.
The only team to have matched that are Luton Town in 2008/09, but they were docked 30 points at the beginning of the season.
To make matters worse, the three seasons prior to the drop out of the EFL, the Iron finished in 23rd (relegated from League One), and two 20th-place finishes respectively.
To say the North Lincolnshire based side are in turmoil is an understatement. Especially considering they were a Championship club just 11 years ago.
Scunthorpe were once regarded as one of the best-run clubs in the entire country.
Being only one of three clubs that were debt-free in England’s four professional divisions, the club had a system of signing promising youngsters and selling them for fees which were on occasion more than twenty times the initial fee paid.
Strikers such as Billy Sharp and Gary Hooper sold for £2 million fees, both bought to the club for £100,000 and £125,000 respectively.
As well as keeping the club on a sound financial footing, the side benefitted heavily on the pitch.
Despite an average attendance of just under six thousand, the Iron had three seasons in the Championship in two separate stints.
Enjoying away wins against Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, and 4-0 wins against Crystal Palace & Sheffield United, Scunthorpe were in dreamland.
However, the side’s spell in the Championship was not to last and many Scunthorpe fans would have understood that the longevity of staying one division below the Premier League would not last.
Relegation would eventually become inevitable, and the Iron met that fate at the conclusion of the 2010/11 season.
However, following their second season back in League One, Scunthorpe were relegated again. That summer, current owner Peter Swann took control, and subsequent stewardship of the club.
Swann’s first season with the club was a rewarding one, taking the club back to League One at the first attempt under the management of Russ Wilcox.
However, 11 games in and Wilcox was sacked after just two wins. This associated Swann with his ruthless approach to sacking managers, and an explosive live debate with Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday.
Optimism from there carried forward under Graham Alexander, including two play-off finishes, the best finishing third, just four points behind Bolton Wanderers who were promoted to the Championship.
However, this is where the decline of Scunthorpe United began.
Several key players left the club in the summer, including Sam Mantom to division rivals Southend, Murray Wallace to Millwall, Hakeeb Adelakun to Bristol City, and Conor Townsend & Duane Holmes traveling to the Midlands to join West Brom and Derby County respectively.
It had always been Scunthorpe’s model to buy players, and sell them for a profit, however the transfer policy this time round was different.
Key players who had left the club were replaced with players who were far below the standard expected.
Under the guidance of three managers throughout the season, the side couldn’t muster any good run of form and were relegated following a 3-2 final day defeat to Plymouth Argyle.
Josh Morris’s goal on that day received criticism even from the club own’s chairman Peter Swann, after Plymouth kicked the ball out due to injury, on which Scunthorpe scored, and refused to let the hosts score in return.
The Iron’s first season back in the fourth tier began with just one point from the opening seven- and manager Paul Hurst was sacked in late January after despite a positive run in November and December.
On the sacking, Swann stated the “that the relationship between himself and Hurst had simply broken down.”
The COVID-19 pandemic meant the cancellation of the 2019/20 season, with Scunthorpe sitting 20th.
The club felt the heat of the pandemic- especially after the debt-free status was erased in 2018 with a £2 million loan to previous chairman Steven Wharton.
Not only now was the club performing poorly on the pitch, but troubles were now slowly arising off it.
Scunthorpe United released 16 players, including regular starters in Andy Butler, and Levi Sutton.
The incoming transfers didn’t offer much for optimism- with players either approaching the end of their careers aged over 30, or youngsters that have yet to prove potential in the professional game.
The club made no improvement on the last year’s position, finishing 20th once again. This made it three consecutive seasons of bottom five finishes.
The 2021/22 season would be the season to remember for the Iron for the wrong reasons.
27 players left the club throughout the season, 22 in the summer- compared with the incomings of 7.
Starting the season under Neil Cox, the side were bottom by November- with embarrassing 4-0 and 6-1 defeats to Exeter City and Harrogate Town. The latter was branded as “the lowest moment for the club.”
However, under the stewardship of Keith Hill, the form would not improve.
Two 4-0’s, Three 3-0’s, a 4-1 & 5-1 were some defeats Hill provided in his spell at the club within the second half of the season.
Come the final day, Scunthorpe were already relegated with a record-low points tally since Doncaster Rovers in 1998.
Opponents Bristol Rovers needed to overcome a 7-goal deficit in order to obtain promotion to the division. Remarkably, they recorded a 7-0 victory at Scunthorpe’s expense.
The game was Scunthorpe United author and ex-Scunthorpe Live reporter Max Bell’s (@Max_Bell_11) defining moment for the downfall of the club.
“For me, the final game of last season is hard to top. To prevent League Two from becoming a total farce, all we had to do was lose 6-0 and we couldn’t do it.
“We still haven’t recovered from that humiliation.”
Following the club’s first time in the National League after 72 years, fans were not only downcast with relegation, but from the heartache of several years of endless misery.
To make matters worse, the stadium, Glanford Park, and all other valuable assets were transferred to Swann’s own business, a property and investment company, for the return of an £11 million loan being written off.
The club was in the National League, with no hope, no optimism, and no valuable assets to attract a buyer, which according to Swann himself, the club badly needed to prevent administration.
Simon (@ScunthorpeMWS) says the fault is at Swann’s door for the freefall of the club, stating “Peter Swann spent beyond our means, employed his son as chief scout, and we have been in free-fall for years.”
Simon is not alone in belief Swann is the man behind Scunthorpe’s misery. Protests against the owner have occurred including throwing tennis balls onto the pitch in a 4-0 defeat to Mansfield, and most notably ‘lockgate’ by locking the gates to the football stadium.
To say the club’s start in the National League has been humiliating is an understatement.
Despite winning the opening game of the season in a 2-1 home win against Yeovil Town, results followed that surpassed even the upset of the previous season.
With a 2-0 defeat to then bottom club FC Halifax Town, a 4-3 defeat to Solihull Moors in which the Iron was winning 3-0, Keith Hill’s National League stint was cut short.
Max Bell describes the Solihull defeat as one which “encapsulates a club whom losing has not just become a habit, but a way of life.”
Scunthorpe’s fortunes have still not changed, on or off the pitch.
The club sits bottom with 16 points from a possible 69, conceding 47 goals in the process.
The club was in “genuine danger of administration” in September, and despite a club statement assuring takeover talks were in place, it was announced by the bidding party that both bids have been rejected.
If it couldn’t get any worse, Peter Swann was this week found out to be in trouble behind the scenes, owing millions to a bookmaker in the region of £1.8 million.
With an alleged gambling addict running the football club who fans perceive is refusing to sell, a club bottom of the National League, and having just sold striker Joe Nuttall to fellow relegation strugglers Oldham Athletic, there is no positive ending in sight for Scunthorpe fans.
Asked on where they think the club will end up under the current circumstances, Simon adds “I think we will be in the National League North next season, fighting to maybe survive in that.”
Max Bell adds “If Peter Swann fails to sell Scunthorpe United by the end of the season, maybe even sooner, then Scunthorpe United as we know it will cease to exist.”
The phrase “At least it can’t get any worse” is how some would view this situation, but be assured Scunthorpe fans have been telling themselves that for years- and yet it always does.
Thomas Hill - Sports Journalism 