[FM24] Saving Scunthorpe

[Blarney]

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

Okay, so maybe "mighty" is a bit of a stretch... or a really big stretch, if we're being honest.

We are talking about Scunthorpe United - a club that has spent just 72 years in the English Football League.  And of those 72 years - 38 have been spent in the 4th tier, 25 in the 3rd tier and just 9 in the 2nd tier (only 3 in the past 60 years).  That's not exactly what one would call a sparkling history.

But here's what makes them interesting -- and not necessarily in a good way.

In English Football League history no club has fallen so far and so fast as Scunthorpe has over the past 13 seasons.

Back in 2004 Scunthorpe found themselves in League 2, finished in 2nd place and earned promotion to League One.  That year they finished 12th but the following season finished in first place to earn their spot in the Championship.  Unfortunately that only lasted one year with a 23rd place finish and a trip back to League One, which also only lasted one season with a 6th place finish and promotion to the Championship via the playoffs.  This time they spent 2 seasons in the 2nd tier -- a 20th place finish in the 2009-10 season and then a 24th place finish in the 2010-11 season which saw them relegated back to League One.

So by my count that was just 13 seasons ago that they were playing in tier 2, the Championship League.

Since that time they went from League One to League Two in 2 seasons.  Back to League One the very next year for 5 seasons and then back to League Two in 2019 for 3 seasons, the National League for one season and then the National League North as of this year.

For those counting that's 13 years.... and a four tier drop.  Three tiers in the past 5 years alone.

No team in history has done that.

Their highest finish ever was back in 1961 when they finished in 4th place in the 2nd tier... but in the past 60 some odd seasons, just haven't had much success at all -- just 3 total seasons in the 2nd tier with bottom half finishes each season.

That lack of success bleeds over to hardware as well since Scunthorpe have never had much success in any of the many English tourneys either.

So, yeah, maybe "mighty" is a stretch, but at the same time when you find yourself in the 2nd tier of the English Football league one season.... and scrambling to get yourself out of the 6th tier just over a dozen years later -- I don't know what else to call it.

But whatever you call it.... you're just not having a good time of it lately.

This may be one of the worst teams in the English tier system of their magnitude.  Certainly there are smaller clubs that have had no success that woudn't compare.... but this was a Championship League quality club just over a decade ago and now finds themselves 2 tiers below the Football League.  

What has gone wrong?  A good question that we're going to tackle next.

How do we fix it is the bigger question though.

[Blarney]

What's gone wrong?

What always goes wrong?  Money -- lack of it.

This is a club that's been swimming in debt for years and have faced potential administration from the league on multilple occassions.

And that's not to mention the previous owner that's been linked to criminal investigations and was convicted on multiple accounts of fraud.... under a different name.  What is going on at Scunthorpe?

Heck, even the owner before him which was absolutely hated by the supporters didn't have those kind of issues.  He just didn't spend money on the club, sacked people he didn't like for various reasons and then as he was swimming in personal debt transferred Glanford Park, the training ground, car park and surrounding lands to his other business and took out loans against the property.  What a guy.

It's no wonder that just a few months ago the league was considering closing Scunthorpe down.

During all of this - especially for the past 5 seasons - the results on the pitch suffered as well ---- which we previously discussed.  It's very difficult for a club to operate with no money, no seeming interest from ownership to make anything better and players that at times weren't even getting paid.

Is there a change coming?  

Possibly.

The club has just gone through an ownership change once again with local businesswoman Michelle Harness taking over.  The good thing is Michelle has been involved with the club for years, being a current Director and previous Commercial Manager.  And most of the debts have been taken care of as well through the deal to acquire Scunthorpe.

Does this mean everything is just peachy now at Scunthorpe?  Of course not.  

Michelle said as much herself when she took over:  

“I would like to thank everyone who assisted in the transaction, especially David Hilton.  There are a lot of challenges and problems to overcome, but David has taken no fee for the club, and wiped all monies that he personally invested to enable this deal to happen. I wish him and his family all the best for the future, and I hope he finds some peace away from football.  I’d also like to acknowledge the efforts of Simon Elliott, who has massively assisted in getting this deal over the line. There is now a lot of work to do behind the scenes to get our great football club back on track, and that work starts immediately with the fantastic team we have working for us, starting with the appointment of a new board.”

It also means hiring a new manager as well.  

The question is, does anybody think the Scunthorpe job is a good one or is it one that most managers would want to stay away from because of all the issues they've had in recent years?

This is also a club that while having all those issues with ownership have also had no less than 10 different managers (some temporary) leading the club since 2018.  That's a revolving doors of voices which is never easy for players when there's no stability at a club.

So who will be taking charge and what are his/her plans going forward?

[Blarney]

Let's take a look at Scunthorpe United

Scunthorpe United is nicknamed the Iron which is due to the town's association with the iron and steel industry.

They were formed in 1899 and turned professional in 1912.

It wasn't until 1950 that they were elected into the Football League.

They stayed in the Football League until being relegated to the National League 2 seasons ago.

They are currently playing in the National League North after being relegated again last season.

Scunthorpe is a relatively small town in North Lincolnshire England with a population under 100,000 people but it happens to be the largest town in the area, which is pretty sparsely populated.

It lies to the East of the much larger cities of Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester... so it is somewhat isolated.

Glanford Park - which was built in 1988 and is the current home of Scunthorpe United - is on the Northwest side of the town.

.

One of the best things about it's location is that it has a lot of room for growth with open land on 2 sides.

It has pretty easy access and decent parking for a small town stadium.

In fact the stadium itself isn't very small -- especially by non-league standards.  It holds nearly 10,000 supporters.

Unfortunately due to the recent problems at the club and their skid into non-league football they've been barely pulling over 3,000 supporters to their home games.  This is something that new ownership hopes to change with their new approach to the game and new management in place.

 

[Blarney]

A New Manager

--- a new direction ---

In a press release the team has announced the they have come to terms with Richie O'Byrne a 24-year old with no management experience who has worked in the scouting department for Scunthorpe for the past 2 years.  His father was the Head of Youth Development for the previous 4 years before taking a job with Nottingham Forest just this past week.

Richie has a degree from Loughborough University in Sports Management.

We expect more news and a press introduction to come.

[Blarney]

O'Byrne meets the press

**Since in the game it shows Michelle Harness as the new owner (which didn't really happen in reality until October of this year) we're going to pretend that she just took over here in June/July before the season started**

Ivy Hill - Press Officer:  Hello ladies and gentlemen.  Today you'll get an opportunity to ask questions of Chairperson Michelle Harness and new manager Richie O'Byrne.  We'll first get a statement from Michelle and then Richie will speak and then you'll have an opportunity to ask your questions.  We'll get started shortly.

Michelle Harness:  Hello everyone.  Today is a good day for Scunthorpe United.  It's been a pretty crazy few weeks since I took over the club.  Our first priority has been putting together our board and concentrating on decisions regarding our management and coaching staff.  We met with Jimmy Dean about 3 weeks ago, right after we took over and had a chance to get our feet on the ground and at that time decided we wanted to go a different direction and basically wipe the slate clean from the past few years.  We recognize that Jimmy had only been in charge since January and certainly doesn't hold full responsibility for our relegation this past season so it's not like our decision was based on that.  But as we just took over the club and we want to institute an entirely new direction and attitude around here we just thought it best to remove almost every piece of the past and look only to the future from here on.  To that end we started putting together a list of names and met with a lot of really great candidates for this job and ended up unanimously coming to the conclusion that one person stood out from the rest.  Today we are here to introduce you to him.  Richie is young and energetic.  He has been involved with the club for the past 2 years in our scouting department.  His father was the Head of Youth Development here for the past 4 seasons before moving on to Nottingham Forest about the time that we took over.  I've had the pleasure of working with his father and have met Richie on a couple of different occassions before this interview process.  He's an incredibly bright individual that blew us away with his knowledge of the game and ideas for how to move this club forward through very difficult times.  The most important thing is he's Iron through and through.  He cares for this club.  He cares for this city that he's adopted as his own.  He cares for the supporters.  He is everything we wanted in a hire and more.  We think you'll think the same after speaking with him, so let's let him talk and you can get to know him more.  Richie.

Richie O'Byrne:  Thank you, Michelle.  Thank you to the board for this great opportunity.  If I'm being honest I'm at a wee bit at a loss for words at the moment  Which probably isn't the best when you're meeting the press for the first time, but this has been truly a crazy, crazy time for me.  I guess if anything needs to be said it's that I undestand the gravity of this job.  I don't want the supporters or anybody associated with the club to think I am taking this lightly.  I fully plan to give everything I have and everything I am to dig us out of this pit we're in currently.  I have been here for 2 seasons and we've endured back-to-back relegations during that time.  My father had been around here for just over 4 years and has seen us go from a League One club to the National League North during that time.  We are going backwards and that's not the direction we want to be going.  So as of now, there are no more excuses.  It's a new day at Scunthorpe.  That is the attitude.  We are all looking forward.  So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you all have.

Rogers Hornsby:  Hi, Richie, Rogers Hornsby from the Scunthorpe Telegraph.  Welcome to the club, first off.  Or at least welcome to your new position.  So I'll start you off easy.  How did this all come about?  Did you approach the club about the opening?  Did they approach you?

Richie O'Byrne:  I appreciate the welcome.  Actually it was my father that pushed me to apply for the position.  So I let the club know I was interested and had my first interview a few days later.  I didn't hear anything back for several days but then I got a phone call that they wanted to meet with me again.  The first time I had met one of the other board members but this time I met with Michelle over lunch.  We had a good conversation.  She asked me a lot about my background and my job with the club.  And then we got to my ideas on how to fix things.  We talked players, tactics, money.... realistic goals for the club.  And then several more days went by before I heard anything back.  My next meeting was with the entire board.  I won't bore you with the details but a lot was discussed that we had talked about before but in more detail.  A club vision was presented to me.  We discussed in great detail what plans would be in place for not only this season but next season and even 5-years from now.  My understanding at this time was that there was one more applicant they were meeting with but I didn't know who that was.  I was told that there would be a decision within the week and by weeks end I was offered a contract, which I obviously accepted.

Jennie Smythe:  Hi, Richie, Jennie Smythe from The Athletic.  So my question today is really more for Michelle.  So recently we ran an article that dealt with all of the issues that Scunthorpe has faced over the past few seasons.  We talked in great depth about the financial problems.  Legal issues of past ownership.  Gambling debts.  Attempts to sell off parts of the club to pay off debts... or at the very least some shady business deals that left who owned what in question.  And also the issues on the pitch regarding unpaid players, staff members, and the fall from the Championship that's brought you to non-league football.  So our question is... knowing all the financial issues the club still faces and the problems that still may present themselves including a potential winding up order if things don't improve - is the release of a more highly regarded manager in Jimmy Dean and the hiring of one with no management or coaching experience more of a financial hire than one that would be considered best for business?

Michelle Harness:  Absolutely not.  I'm not going to hide our financial problems, as they have been well documented.  However, things stand much better today than they did a month ago as most of our outstanding debts have been taken care of through this takeover.  And while that doesn't mean we're on solid ground, it means we're at least not sinking at the moment.  Granted a good season would improve that even more, so that's one thing we're looking forward to.  But to suggest that we sacked Jimmy or hired Richie based on financial issues alone isn't fair.  Richie's earned this opportunity on his own merit and has our full backing.

Bill Decker:  Hi, Richie, Bill Decker BBC Humberside.  Congratulations on the new position.  I'm sure you're very excited.  So tell us a little more about yourself.  We know your father has been involved in scouting and player development for most of the past 20 years since he retired as a player in Ireland.  We know you went to Loughborough University and studied sports management.  We know you joined Scunthorpe United in the scouting department a couple of years ago.  So what else can you tell us about yourself?

Richie O'Byrne:  Well I was born in Killarney, Ireland.  My father played football for a few different teams in the League of Ireland.  He'd tell you that he was good enough to earn a spot but not really good enough to go anywhere with it.  After he retired he became a scout for Galway United - where he had played the last few years of his career.  From there we moved to Dublin for a few years and then he took a job here in England.  We've bounced around to a few different teams until he settled here in Scunthorpe 4 years ago.  I was actually at university at the time in Loughborough.  After I graduated I took a job in the scouting department here as well... and that's where I've been the past 2 years.  When my father was presented with an opportunity to move to Nottingham Forest and become the Director of Football, I was actually offered a job there as well.  But at the same time this job became available here and my father pushed to get me an interview.  I thought he was a little crazy but maybe he had more faith in me than I had in myself at the time.  

Bill Decker:  So what can we expect from you this season?  What style of football do you favor?   Can we expect any changes at the club regarding personnel?

Richie O'Byrne:  So there's one thing I'm pretty competent in my knowlege of... and that's that goals win games.  You start with a point in every match.  You score a goal and your opponent doesn't and you get 2 more points.  They score a goal and you don't and you lose your point.  The more points you earn in a season, the better your chances of going up or at least staying up.  So as far as my favored style of play... I'd say I like to attack.  Attacking puts pressure on the opposition and it means that you're in charge of the movement of the ball.  I want my guys to dictate the play rather than react to it.  Of course that means we have to be athletic as a team.  We have to be in good fitness.  We have to be able to run, to push the ball up the pitch.  So that's what I'm looking for in a player.  The supporters are going to see what hopefully is an exciting brand of football.  As far as any personnel changes.... that's one topic I'd prefer not to discuss right now.  I am always going to be looking to improve the club, whether that means immediate changes or stepping back and taking some time to evaluate things, it's hard to say at the moment.

Sean Simms:  Sean Simms, Grimsby Telegraph.  I think the one question the supporters want answered is this.... are you ready for this?  And if you say yes, what makes you confident of that?

Richie O'Byrne:  Thanks for the question, Sean.  So this is what I want the supporters to know.  I don't know that I am ready.  Maybe that's not the right answer but it's the honest one.  Honesty is one thing the supporters can expect from me.  So I don't know that I am ready but I do know that I'm going to do everything I can to be ready every match.  And I'm going to get better every match.  We all are.  I will not be out-worked.  Ever.  The players on this club will not be out-worked.  Maybe there are days we go up against a team that's just better than we are and that's fine.  That happens.  But it won't be preparation.  It won't be heart.  It won't be desire.  It won't be passion.  We are in a tough spot right now.  We've dropped 2 tiers in 2 seasons.  Back-to-back relegations.  We've been through it financially.  And it's not like that's going to change anytime soon.  We'll have restrictions on what we can do this season.  Nobody here thinks this is going to be easy.  So whether I'm ready or whether I'm the right guy for the job.... those questions will have to be answered in time.  What I know right now is I'm going to go prepare and I'm going to go work as if every day might be my last day.  The supporters demand it.  I will give it to them.  

Ivy Hill:  Okay, thanks everyone but that's all we have time for today.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Blarney

[Blarney]

Board Culture and Expectations

Supporter Profile and Culture

[Blarney]

Pre-season

Normal pre-seasony stuff.  Mostly wins, a couple of blowouts and one unpredictable loss where we didn't play well.  Got through it mostly unscathed and everyone healthy.

Predictions

The bookies have spoken and.................

Scunthorpe has been picked as the odds-on favorites to go up as champions this season.

Chester and Buxton are expected to be the 2 teams to push us the most.

Our "best" player or at least the one the bookies think will most deserve Top Player consideration is our first choice Keeper, Ross Fitzsimons.  At least he's our first choice for now... but he's 29 and may well be worth more to transfer than to keep all season long.  Not that we have many other options at the moment so we'll see how the season progresses.

Personally I think Harrison Poulter - our 18-year old striker - is the one that's going to turn heads, but we can see why he's not getting much attention at the moment since he's only made 3 total appearances prior to this season.

We transferred Danny Whitehall - who would have probably been listed here - and as I said above, Poulter probably isn't going to get much attention right now.  Hopefully he's turning heads by the end of the season.

[Blarney]

Player Movements

So we didn't have a lot of money to work with -- just under 40k in the transfer budget  and around 3k left over in the wage budget.  We did have some "bad" contracts, especially on a couple of older players that we weren't going to use or just weren't very good that we needed to lose so we put them up for transfer.

We haven't really made a lot of progress on that front but we did move a couple of guys and manage to bring a couple in.

Clunan is 29 and just not of the quality we need on the club.  While he wasn't worth much, we did manage to get something for him and get his contract off the books.

Rance is 32 and definitely not in my plans.  He was also worth nothing on the market... except to rid ourselves of his 1,000 p/w contract.

Danny is the one "big" name we moved on from.  Most people predicted him to be our first choice striker this year but we've decided to go in a different direction and give our young 18-year old striker the opportunity to show us that he's the future... until we find someone better.  It's not like Danny was worth much either, but money is money and moving his contract allowed us the freedom to sign others we needed more.

We plan to use a 3 front attack and we were weak on the outside so we needed to bring in another warm body.  Asomugha may not be much, but he's depth... and he's cheap.

We are exceptionally weak at the center-back position and while Burke isn't going to be a star, he's of more quality than we possess back there for now.

Lawrence is definitely our "star" signing and is by far our most expensive player.  One player certainly doesn't make a squad but it's one less position I have to worry about on the pitch.  And hopefully he can make the players around him better as well.

Players Re-signed

So we also took a little bit of the money that was available to us and re-signed a few of our better, younger players that were only on one-year contracts.

I didn't want to take any chances on not being able to sign them later or their contract demands being worth more should we/they have a decent season.

Regardless of what the supporters may think we believe Scales has quality... and it's not like he's breaking the bank.

Shrimpton we believe is going to be one of our best players and we're delighted to have him locked up for the next couple of seasons.

Again... don't care what the supporters think.  We need depth and Wilson is a decent young player that could develop into something quite nice.

[Blarney]

Meet the Squad

Strikers

With the departure of Danny Whitehall, Poulter becomes the focal point here.  He's very young and we don't have really great depth behind him but he's going to get every chance to shine here.  Amougha and Elliott will back him up when not playing other positions.

Attacking Midfielders

Cal Roberts is the star here... unfortunately he's injured for the next 4-6 months.  Law is also injured which means that Wilson and Asomugha are going to get their chance to start.  Scales could be used in a shadow-striker capacity but more than likely he'll be starting as a center-midfielder instead.

Midfielders

Shrimpton, Scales and Butterfield will be sharing time in the midfield with Burke most likely playing either a defensive-midfield or center-back position on most days.

Defenders

Burke can either play on the defensive line or a defensive-midfield position.  Lawrence will play as a wing-back.  Ogle, Young, Kelly, Kougon, Denton, Evans and Boyce will all figure for time to see who stands out.  We really need to acquire quality at this position.

Keepers

Fitz is our first choice here.  Chapman is a decent backup.  Murtagh has been sent away on loan.

 

[Blarney]

Tactics

One

5-2-3 Wing-back Wide

In my experience this is a good mixed tactic which provides good attacking if you have solid players on the outside that can push the ball up the pitch and a good target striker in the middle to put it in the back of the net.  You also have to have quality players in the middle that can control the tempo of the game.  With 5 players that can play back your defense should be solid as well.  Unfortunately 2 of the players we want to start are injured and both for a pretty significant amount of time, so others are going to have to step up.

Two

4-3-3 DM Wide

This is more of a traditional defensive formation.  You still have 3 attackers up front but you're playing more back on the defensive line, plus you have one stopper in the middle.  It's not that you can't push the ball up, if you have talented players at center-mid then they can help control the ball while 5 stay back to defend.  This tactic requires good fitness.

 

[Blarney]

Match One

An excerpt of pre-match comments from Richie O'Byrne:  "This is where it all begins.  Training has been good up to this point.  Our preparation has been solid.  Everyone knows what's at stake this season.  We know the end goal.  We're going to go out there in front of our supporters and we're going to give them a glimpse of what we will be this season."

There's nothing like a win at home to start the season.  It's always special to win in front of the home crowd.  We thoroughly dominated King's Lynn on every front.

It was a well played match up and down our lineup.

[Blarney]

Match Two

I feel like we escaped with one here.

We gave up 21 shots, 8 on goal but won the game 2-1.

This sort of performance probably isn't going to carry over well.

[Blarney]

Match Three

Thank you for the nearly 5 minutes of added time.

We'll take the win with another semi-escape.

[Blarney]

Match Four

We allowed 1 shot on target and it went in and that was enough to force the draw.

[Blarney]

Match Five

Back to our winning ways!

[Blarney]

August

It doesn't get much better.  A little "blip" with the draw versus Darlington but other than that 4 wins in the first month of competition.

We're not the only club having a good start to the season though.  Chorley went 4-1-0 as well and has a much better goal difference.  Alfreton went 4-0-1 and has a slightly better goal difference as well.  Brackley and South Shields round out the top 5.  It's obviously VERY early and clubs have the opportunity to reverse fortunes but there's a big difference right now in the top to the bottom of the table.

Team Stats

Player Stats

Attacking Stats

Defending Stats

[Blarney]

Match 6

Well that's one way to win, just score a bunch of goals.

Unfortunately we allowed a lot also.

[Blarney]

Match 7

We go from scoring 6 in one game to nothing the next.

Quality of competition or just extremely inconsistent?

The sad thing is we were pretty dominant in the stats.  HUGE possession advantage, passes completed percentage excellent, 18 shots, 8 on target... and a 2 xG.

But that's on paper and on paper doesn't win games.

Credit to Peterborough for keeping us out of the net.

[Blarney]

Match 8

A massive possession advantage and excellent shooting leads to a 2-1 win.

[Blarney]

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

Credit where credit is due, Bishop's gave us everything and more in this match.

It took 4 minutes into extra time to grab a game winning goal.

We hit them with everything we had... 17 shots, 10 on goal but they just kept turning us away.

We deserved the win with the way we played.... but it felt somewhat lucky in the end.

[Blarney]

Match 9

Fresh off our FA Cup victory versus Bishop... we get to play them again in league play.

This time the outcome was somewhat simpler.

Again we dominated shots, shots on target, even better possession in this game.... and we took the 3-1 victory.

[Blarney]

Match 10

Pretty easy victory all things considered.  Chorley had a hard time finding the goal and that generally makes it very hard to win.

Credit our defense for once.

[Blarney]

FA Cup 3rd Round Qualifying

This was a very tough match.

Both teams had a hard time getting shots on target, so both defenses deserve recognition.

Possession was pretty even, both clubs completed the same percentage of passes.

Scarborough got off a couple more shots but only 1 on target all game.

In the end it was 1 in the net by Scunthorpe that proved the difference.

We will take it... and move on.

[Blarney]

September

Excellent month.  4 wins, 1 draw in league play and 2 victories to move on in the FA Cup.

4 points clear in 1st place, 8 points clear of losing a playoff spot.  We're doing very well so far.

Lots of green on the leaderboard.  We're doing very well in goals scored, average possession, tackles won, shots on target and conversion rate. 

All of that is going to lead to more wins than losses, I'd expect.

Poulter is having a nice little start to his career here.  Our attacking stats overall are keeping us in games.

[Blarney]

Richie O'Byrne answered a question posed by the Grimsby Telegraph:

Scunthorpe is having an excellent start to the season and currently is unbeaten in league play.  How long do you think this can continue?

So am I supposed to give you the typical manager answer to that question or just shoot from the hip?  I am new to this thing? (laughs) So here's the thing, and I'll be as honest as I can be, I think we're the best club in the league, at least on paper.  That means that I think we should probably win more games than we lose and should comfortably be at or near the top come the end of the season.  Actually I think we should probably be at the top but there are other good teams in this league and it's very early, you can ask me that question again in a couple of months.  Anyway, your question was how long can we remain unbeaten?  I don't know and it doesn't matter.  We're not going to win every game we play, we know this, so we don't dwell on it.  We'll lose one here or there but it doesn't define us as a club.  For now we'll ride this wave and go out there and give everything we've got each game.

[Blarney]

Richie O'Byrne answered a question posed by the Scunthorpe Telegraph:

Great start to the season.  The club seems to be playing well together.  Are you planning any changes or looking at bringing in any other players considering your lack of depth?

You'll never hear me say I'm not interested in making the club better, but that doesn't mean making moves just to make them.  It is obvious we do have a small problem with our depth, however we also have 2 very good players that have been injured that we are looking to get back here hopefully in the next few weeks.  Adding those 2 is virtually the same as making a transfer so I'm not sure at this point that we're looking at hitting the market as much as we are at trying to get our guys healthy.  Saying that, if something makes sense, we're going to look into it.

[Rick87]

Flying at the moment mate, good luck with promotion. 

 

I like your interview answers as well

[Blarney]

7 hours ago, Rick87 said:

Flying at the moment mate, good luck with promotion. 

 

I like your interview answers as well

Thanks!  I know most "stories" on here just follow the game and that's cool, but I tend to do more writing and I'd assume most people just scan through it and look at the results - it's hard to follow every story here.  But it's nice to know that every once in awhile someone reads what's written... even if it is mostly just for me to have fun with.

[Blarney]

New Tactic

So part of the job of a manager is to always be looking forward.

That means that even when things are going well, you're always looking for possibilities to make them better.

Of course sometimes you mix things up and it doesn't go well, but live and learn.

So despite the fact that we're obviously doing very well to start the season, as I sat and watched the matches play out there were little things I saw that I didn't like.  Certain players that didn't perform the way I wanted, or weren't the best in their selected roles.  And even the fact that although my chosen tactic(s) were working... I was always tinkering to try and make them better.

So after mixing and matching I had settled on a new tactic going into this month.

I decided to try a 4-2-3-1 formation with 2 defensive mids and 4 up front attackers.

I've never said I was the smartest when it came to tactics or formations, I tend to just throw things out there depending on the players I have available to me and try to find their best roles.

To me this formation splits the pitch into 2. 

You have 4 defensive backs plus 2 guys in the middle playing support roles but playing deeper to be more defensive than offensive players.

Up front you have your main striker plus your 2 wingers but then an added center-attacking midfielder.

So basically 4 attackers, 6 defenders.

You're relying on the abilities of your center-attacking midfielder and 2 defensive midfielders to be able to control the center of the pitch, this is obviously very important as you're not really playing with a center-midfielder and the game can be won or lost in the middle.

I still play "wide" and expect my 2 outside defenders to be able to push the ball up the pitch to my wingers who can attack but mostly provide support for my young striker.

Anyway, that's what we're going with this month.... so let's see how it played out.

 

[Blarney]

Match 11

It's always nice when on paper you didn't have the best match but somehow pulled out the victory.

We only took 6 shots with 3 on target and all 3 went in.

Chester gets off 9, 2 on target and doesn't score.

They also had a pretty good possession advantage but our defense stood tall when needed.

[Blarney]

Match 12

One thing I've learned with my short time on the job is it doesn't matter if you win by 1 or win by 10..... it's still a win.

Curzon gave us a really hard match.

We gave them one as well.

10 shots between the 2 clubs.  Possession pretty much equal.  Passes completed percentage pretty much the same.

But in the end, we got 1 in and they didn't.

[Blarney]

FA Cup 4th Round Qualifier

Altrincham plays 1 tier up from us so they were a nice little test to see where we stood.

And we darn sure came to play.

8 minutes in Poulter hit a great strike from a ridiculous angle that went past 2 defenders and left the keeper standing still as he watched the ball sail past him.

22 minutes later a hard tackle lead to a penalty shot and Poulter scored again.

I decided that was enough and changed the formation to basically park the bus and we just harassed Altrincham the rest of the match to the point they only got off 7 shots and couldn't score.

It was a very good win for us.

[Blarney]

Match 13

We hit Tamworth with everything we had and they had little to stop us.

Poulter got his first hat-trick as we sliced and diced our way through their defense to the tune of 5 goals on 13 shots.

[Blarney]

Match 14

Our attacking has been relenting off late and this match was no different.

If nothing else we just keep coming and coming and coming.

12 shots, 8 on target, 4 in the net.

[Blarney]

Match 15

These types of matches are infuriating.

We just pummeled Spennymoor on the stat sheet.

We pounded them all game long with 19 shots, 7 on target (I'd like a better percentage) and a 67-33 possession advantage.

They got off 6 shots, 5 on target.

We also completed a better percentage of our passes.... although they did out-tackle us by quite a bit.

But the only thing that matters is goals..... and that number ended 2-2.

It happens.

[Blarney]

October

So from the very small sample size I'd say the new tactic was working out pretty well.  Not that we haven't had other good months (considering we're unbeaten) but watching this play out for the month, I really liked how the boys responded and played their positions.

With our continued great play we're starting to make room between us and the mid-table.  We are now 16 points clear of falling out of the playoffs.  Yes, I'm not getting ahead of myself as we're only 3 months into the season... but even if we "evened" out a bit I don't see us falling very far.

I'm still seeing green all over the leaderboard.

Poulter and Asomugha leading the way for Scunthorpe.

Poulter with the 41% conversion rate on shots... very nice.

Some players putting up some nice defensive stats.

[Blarney]

FA Cup First Round

If we're being honest we've had a pretty nice draw so far in the FA Cup and this match was no different as we were up against Blyth.

They did give us a game, in fact more than we probably wanted... getting off more shots and more shots on target than we did.

But the final score is all that matters and in that we prevailed and will be moving on.

Unfortunately we lost Harrison Poulter after this match for up to 6 weeks due to an injury.

Edited January 4 by Blarney

[Blarney]

Match 16

So a bit of good news after losing Poulter in our last match, we got Cal Roberts (arguably our best player) and Jason Law back from injury.

They have both been out since the start of the season so it's good to have them back on the pitch.

Cal came through with a big goal in the 57th minute to even the match at 2 and Asomugha struck the winner in the 75th minute.

[Blarney]

Match 17

Alfreton gave us everything we could handle and despite our good form of late we just couldn't solve their defense.

We'll take the draw - of course - but we certainly think we can do better.

[Blarney]

FA Trophy Second Round

Another match, another win, another opportunity I think we could have played better.

Hate to gripe about pitcking up points... but something is off a bit with the club at the moment.

[Blarney]

Match 18

We get Blyth again, this time in league play and come away with the 1-0 victory.

We're still getting a lot of shots off and we controlled possession for the match but we're just having a hard time finding the back of the net at the moment.

[Blarney]

Match 19

Our mojo is missing.

Again, we'll take the point with the draw... but we have certainly played better this season.

[Blarney]

Match 20

A run of just "okay" performances but at the same time we're still unbeaten.

Maybe it's just a blip.

Maybe it's things evening out.

Maybe it's the team missing Poulter up front.

I'm sure answers will come, they usually do.

[Blarney]

November

So after setting the league on fire the first few months and leading the league in total goals scored, we definitely had a little dip this month.

We are still unbeaten but it's quite the difference seeing 4 straight matches of 1 goal scored and another with none.

However, if that's the worst to come.... we'll take it and run.

We continue to put distance between us and everyone else in the league.

[Blarney]

Grimsby Telegraph

It's 20 unbeaten now and you're tops on the table.  You're on record as saying you believe you'll win the league and get promoted.  Where do you feel the club stands at the moment as far as  being competitive in the National League?

I think that's next season - assuming we do earn promotion - and right now we have half this season to finish.  But I'll play along and answer the question.  I think we have some quality players, but there are quality players elsewhere as well.  We're certainly not going to get ahead of ourselves and start guessing where we might be or might finish next season.  Assuming we do move up we're going to be facing tougher competition and that's always going to mean finding ways to get better yourself.  

Reports are, however, that finances still are not good.  You've not had much money to work with this season and if what we've heard is correct, you're currently losing money monthly.  Has the board stepped in and given any ideas of how they're going to fix this or has there been any injection of cash to help keep everything afloat?

Money isn't my problem.  Keeping the club running within our means is.  If you're asking me if there's a bottomless pit of cash for me to make moves, no.  Has that affected what we've done this season so far, not really.  I don't think our situation is much different than most other clubs at our level or even above us.  We're not Wrexham but we don't need to be to be successful.  We have to be smart.  I can't worry about what I can't do without cash, I can only worry about being intelligent with what I do have.

Edited January 4 by Blarney

[Blarney]

FA Cup Second Round

The Scunthorpe Telegraph

Scunthorpe Manager Richie O'Byrne furious over last match - demands answers

Following their loss against Colchester in the Second Round of the FA Cup, Scunthorpe manager Richie O'Byrne met with the press and had this to say:  "I'm not one that normally has much to say about officiating in the league.  It's not a simple job and usually it's just blind prejudice that leads to the questioning of the referees during a match.  However, I think someone has to answer to why when we're told that there will be 6 minutes of added time, we're still out there on the pitch 9 minutes later and allowing a goal to score that determines the winner and loser of a match of this quality.  I think that definitely is a question that needs to be asked and I don't care if I get fined for asking it."

It was a cracker of a match with minnows Scunthorpe going up against a League Two opponent in Colchester.  Nobody really gave Scunthorpe much of a chance but they went toe-to-toe with Colchester in a match that went down to the last minute.... and more.  Most of the first half was a "feeling out" process with neither club having any advantage until Colchester scored in the 41st minute.  Scunthorpe evened it up in the 81st minute and at that point even money would have been on this ending in a draw.

Yet that's when the "fun" actually began.

In the 93rd minute, Colchester struck again and it looked like the end for Scunthorpe until with what everyone assumed was time running out Shrimpton hit an absolutely incredible strike going in to the 97th minute to even it again.  That had to be it, right?  The officials had signalled for 6 minutes of added time, the whistle had to be coming.

But it didn't.

And down the pitch went Colchester again, even with Scunthorpe sitting back harassing their every pass, they managed to carve through the defense and at 99 minutes scored what ultimately was the game winner.

Deserved?  Maybe.  Questionable?  According to O'Byrne, yes.

The bigger question is how does Scunthorpe respond to this, their FIRST loss in the 2023-24 campaign.

[Blarney]

Match 21

Well we finally kicked our goal "drought" in league play.

And we got another win while doing it.

[Blarney]

Match 22

Welcome back Mr. Poulter!

No, he didn't score, but it's sure good to have him back on the squad.

And we got the win.

We probably should have by a lot more than we did... 1 goal scored against 20 shots - yet only 5 on target.

[Blarney]

Match 23

4 goals by 4 different players.

We definitely made the most of our limited opportunities in this match.

One thing that really sticks out is our 73% possession advantage.

[Blarney]

December

Kind of a quiet schedule compared to the last few months.  We only played 3 league games, winning each.

We'll list our FA Cup loss under.... suspicious causes.

But we won our Third Round FA Trophy match to make up for it.

South Shields is playing very well and sticking right with us.... just 5 points back -- although we do have 2 games in hand.

Welcome back Poulter... here's to a great 2nd half.

Attacking Stats

Defending Stats