Football Season Guide

Scunthorpe enter the new season with plenty of optimism surrounding them, given the impressive manner in which they ended the previous campaign. Graham Alexander was named their manager with just over a month left to play with the idea being for him to get to know his new players well enough to make transfer decisions in he summer, but the Iron went on an impressive winning run that saw them miss out on a play-off place only narrowly. Moreover, most of their fans felt pretty much cheated due to the events of the last day of the season, as the Iron finished below Barnsley only due to the Tykes' unlikely comfortable away win at champions Wigan, with the overall feeling among the Iron fans being that the Latics did not show sufficient professionalism on theday. Alexander will be determined to do one better this season and, with the club being in a decent financial situation, it is hardly a surprise that Iron have lost no key performers during the summer, with players that have left being fringe players who moved in a search for regular football. Moreover, the Iron have signed three potential starters in Duane Holmes, Sam Mantom and Josh Morris and definitely look stronger last season, while Kevin van Veen, who has shown signs of promise but has been hit and miss with the club so far, will also be available after returning from a loan spell in Holland with Cambuur. With a promising manager, momentum on their side and a decent squad, all the necessary ingredients seem to be in place for the Iron to push for promotion this time around.