Scunthorpe United FC
Glanford Park
Doncaster Road
Scunthorpe
DN15 8TD
Ground: 5
Date: Saturday 14th August 2010
Scunthorpe United 0-1 Norwich City
Championship
Attendance: 6,042 (official)
Attendance: 6,042 (official)
Scunthorpe United FC - History
Scunthorpe United were founded in 1899, turning professional in 1912. In 1921, the club applied to join the Football League, but were unsuccessful. After World War 2, the club continued to apply to join the Football League, finally being successful in 1950.
In 1958, Scunthorpe were promoted to Division 2 of the Football League, where they stayed until 1964. From then until the mid-2000s, Scunthorpe spent the vast majority of their time in the bottom division of the Football League, with little of note really happening to the club in this period: one of the few things to happen was in 1988, when Scunthorpe became the first English football club in the modern era to move to a new, purpose-built stadium in their current home of Glanford Park.
In 2005, Scunthorpe were promoted from League 2 into League 1 and this was swiftly followed by promotion to the Championship at the end of the 2006/07 season. However, this was followed by an immediate relegation back to League 1 the following season.
The 2008/09 season saw Scunthorpe reach Wembley twice, losing in the final of the Football League Trophy to Luton before winning the play-off final and earning promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. However, unlike their previous Championship campaign, they weren't relegated straight away and instead stayed up in the 2009/10 season. However, this feat could not be repeated in the 2010/11 season, when the club finished bottom of the Championship.
At the end of the 2012/13 season, Scunthorpe were relegated back to League 2 for the first time in almost a decade, but the following season saw the club embark on a 28-game unbeaten run (breaking the all-time Football League (excluding the Premier League) record) as they achieved an instant return to League 1, where they have remained ever since.
My Visit
Generally speaking, Scunthorpe would almost never be on the radar as somewhere for me to visit because of where it is, and in fact we only ended up going there at all because it happened to be available on the way up to Alnwick for a holiday. However, that's about all I remember about the day and the game, other than the fact that I didn't especially like what little I saw of Scunthorpe. However, this match report I found online suggests that I'm not exactly missing much by not remembering this game:
Grant Holt popped up with a stoppage-time winner as Norwich City overcame Scunthorpe United 1-0 at Glanford Park.
Canaries striker Holt headed home in dramatic fashion to
clinch his team's first win since securing promotion back to the
Championship.The Canaries almost led inside the third minute when an outswinging corner from midfielder Andrew Surnam was greeted by a firm header by Andrew Crofts from 12 yards.
Moments later, Scunthorpe midfielder Martyn Woolford hit a fierce shot from 25 yards which drew a fine block from Canaries defender Michael Nelson.
In the 24th minute, Josh Wright carved out a chance for Scunthorpe when he crossed dangerously for a header which Jonathan Forte headed goalwards.
Canaries goalkeeper John Ruddy made a fine parried save to prevent a certain goal and Scunthorpe cleared the danger with a fine defensive header.
In the 34th minute, Woolford engineered the space to a drill a shot goalwards from 20 yards but Ruddy made a comfortable save.
The momentum remained with the home side as the interval approached and summer signing Chris Dagnall narrowly failed to hit the target from 18 yards in the 36th minute.
In the 40th minute, Scunthorpe went close again when a cross from defender Eddie Nolan was volleyed over the crossbar by Forte.
The lively Forte went close again before half-time with another snapshot but genuine chances remained scarce in the opening period.
The Iron looked to up the tempo after the restart as midfielder Garry Thompson hit a shot from 25 yards which drew another fine block from Nelson.
In the 53rd minute, Holt missed the target from 12 yards and playmaker Wes Hoolahan also went close for the visitors.
Substitute Andrew Wright went close for Scunthorpe with a 30-yard drive in the 77th minute but it was a hopeful effort and did not trouble Ruddy in the visitors' goal.
With eight minutes remaining, Simeon Jackson engineered the space to hit a shot from the edge of the box which again missed the target.
However, in the first minute of added time Surman crossed from the left flank and Holt rose highest to head home the winner.
The Ground
I don't remember being especially enamoured with Glanford Park and, looking at other people's photos online, I can certainly see why: it's just not got a lot of character and doesn't seem that well-designed in all honesty. It doesn't surprise me at all that Scunthorpe have been looking to move into a new ground for a few years now.
Glanford Park consists of three seated stands and one terraced stand, with an overall capacity of 9,088. The ground's record attendance was 9,077 for a League Cup tie against Manchester United in 2012.
Photos
Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm bothering with this section as I'm unlikely to update it anytime soon, and may not even get a chance to depending on if Scunthorpe's speculated ground move ever actually happens. Still, there's always a chance that it will happen, I suppose.
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