Football Season Guide

Scunthorpe United

In


Stephen Dawson (mid, Rochdale), Jack King (mid, Preston North End), Scott Wiseman (def, Preston North End), Isaac Assenso (mid, Leeds United), Charlie Goode (def, Hendon), Scott Laird (def, Preston North End), Tom Hopper (att, Leicester City), Luke Williams (mid, Middlesbrough), Jamie Ness (mid, Stoke City), Darius Henderson(att, Leyton Orient)

Out


Sam Slocombe (gk, Oxford United), Matt Sparrow (mid, Lincoln City), Billy Kee (att, Accrington Stanley), Isaiah Osbourne(mid, released), Lyle Taylor (att, AFC Wimbledon), James Severn(gk, released), Marcus Williams(def, released), Miguel Llera(def, released), Eddie Nolan(def, released), Jennison Myrie-Williams(mid, released), Andy Dawson(def, released)

After taking from Russ Wilcox relatively early in the previous season, Mark Robins was presented with the task of keeping Scunthorpe up, and he managed to achieve this goal with relative ease. The Iron boss, who had to work with Wilcox's squad last season, has had the entire summer to make the squad his own, and has been very busy on the transfer market attempting to shape the squad by his own liking. The list of players who have left hardly contains any surprises, as virtually all players who have left were regulars under Wilcox, only for their appearances to become less and less frequent under Robins - it could therefore be argued that Scunthorpe have not lost any important players during the summer. On the other side, the list of incoming transfers looks very impressive. First of all the Iron have managed to secure deals for Luke Williams and Tom Hopper, who both impressed on loan with the club last season, and have also signed some proven League One quality in Jamie Ness, Darius Henderson, Scott Laird, Stephen Dawson and Jack King. Their squad seems very strong, certainly stronger than the one that Robins had to work with last time around, both in terms of quality of the players and depth. The Iron have consistently showing midtable form since being taken over by Robins, and will now be expected to make a step up and post a play-off challenge.

Target


A top ten finish will be seen as a bare minimum, but their real ambition will be to push for a top six place. They definitely seem to be heading in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether their summer signings will settle in well enough to turn them into play-off challengers.