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My concern is that a lot of our best moments seem to come from having outstanding individuals in the team – look at the goals of Butterfield & Smith in recent weeks. I’m not so sure that we are seeing as many goals which are the result of a good, cohesive team. Put another way, the players are good but do we yet know if the manager is?

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I’ve only seen him in the Boston game when no-one really stood out but I thought Law was pretty modest on that occasion, didn’t seem to have the turn of pace to get away from his man. We looked brighter when Wilson replaced him. But it’s only one game & may not be representative.

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Iron-awe wrote:

Torpey in his pomp would have eaten Whitehall for breakfast, Whitehall is more of a wind up merchant than a target man IMO but he gets goals so I guess he is doing his job, just don’t like the way he goes about it.

He must be close to beating Torpey’s most number of goals in a single season? Albeit several divisions lower.

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Northumbiron wrote:

Southern town???

Further north than Stamford in Lincolnshire.

That doesn’t make it a northern town! Should I have said midlands?

It’s definitely been a favourable run of fixtures recently and another win tonight would really push home the current advantage. Here’s hoping!

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TwoWrights wrote:

Yorkshire is often chanted at Hull matches, H*mberside was a stinking stain on history.

In contrast, away fans calling us “dirty Yorkshire bastards” is a far bigger insult than “dirty northern bastards”!

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lesgeo wrote:

What I got back:-
‘Absolutely terrible over the ball tackle on Scales half way up his shin straight leg. Ref staring at it from 8 yards.
Worst decision of the season. Not fit to referee.’

Definitely doesn’t sound like your contact has any pre-conceived ideas or prejudices.

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Iron-awe wrote:

The non league equivalent of Ederson? Certainly hits balls into the outfield like some classy midfielder’s pass it, deffo a massive asset particularly on the counter attack.

A handy comparison because Ederson seems a bit dodgy when it comes to saving shots too.

But glad Fitzsimmons is doing well, I certainly like his swagger with the ball at his feet.

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Yeah that tackle on Aiston basically ruined Sheldon didn’t it? It’s why I still get uncomfortable watching players hold the ball in the corner at the end of games.

But Smith was a dirty bugger, always played the man whenever he could and should have been sent off in that game when both keepers were injured.

Lee Hughes was a disgrace as a bloke but I never saw him as that dirty on the pitch, Thorpe is a good call though. And remember Cortez Belle who played for Chester under Ian Rush? I think he got more red cards than goals in his career!

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qwerty wrote:

Promotion to the NL will probably be worth more than the 100k a year Roberts or any other players may be on.

Why will it? Where will the value come in promotion? From the huge away followings of Solihull Moors or Altrincham? From the big money National League TV deal? From the massive increase in the value of sponsorships from playing in English football’s 5th tier? I think we need to get real about the realities of football finances outside the Football League.

Iron Age wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/17/scunthorpe-united-bristol-city-league-one-match-report

I still have nightmares.

That headline should have been “both keepers have their arms broken”. Never seen a bigger thug on the pitch than Smith.

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Beautiful stuff! Pure poetry.

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The fact there are so many candidates tells you plenty about the state of our squad!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Cliff Byrne's Right Peg

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qwerty wrote:

Awaywego, they walked in because the alternative was no SUFC!

Personally I don’t think the budget needs to be halved. Gate receipts, sponsorship, merchandise etc will be a lot more than 780k surely???

In previous league seasons, ticket moneys have tended to average around £1m/season. Obviously that would have been helped by bigger away followings. Sponsorship will be understandably reduced this year because of our lower status, although given we sometimes didn’t have a shirt sponsor under Swann, it will be an increase on some seasons.

But we’re probably not in a case of having to break even, I imagine we’re having to cover legacy debts, so the normal income wouldn’t be enough to cover costs in this case.

I would be fascinated to know what the situation is with all the season ticket money for this season.

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BTW, given Hearts’ struggles this season, particularly scoring goals, I wouldn’t be surprised if Smith is playing for their first team next year.

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lesgeo wrote:

If Elliott has ever looked even vaguely like a 32 goals a season NLN striker – I’ve never seen it! (Makes for good sale advertising copy, though.)
I suspect that only Butterfield earns more than he. But who to replace Elliott?

His finishing has been pretty decent this season and his goal return per game in this league is pretty handy. Plus he’s young enough to be a saleable asset. Butterfield much less so.

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Personally I think we should be inviting bids for Elliott – he’s a good player but clearly not part of our best XI and is one who could raise some much-needed funds in January. It’s obvious that the summer signings were completely unsustainable and whilst it’s fun to see such a good team performing we have to be realistic about what we can afford.

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Northumbiron wrote:

Don’t forget our “spot on” home form included a 0-3 defeat to Buxton.

Our performances do date have been like a bag of Revels!

True although more than a few mitigating circumstances around that one!

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To be honest, I think the performance was more of a concern than the result. The lack of rhythm, an inability to impose our game on the match and the fact we never looked like scoring until their player was caught in possession are all concerns, given our overall away form. Hopefully we’ll see more steps in the right direction on Saturday.

1 user thanked author for this post.

BigLeftToe

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In the last two home games, we took the lead early and I think that makes a massive difference. Based on tonight’s showing, we look less than the sum of our parts.

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Iron-awe wrote:

Seemed to work ok last two home games, guess we can’t win every time, what a surprise.

I take your point but we’ve not won an away game since August so there’s something not right there.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Awaywego, BigLeftToe

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Which Fitzsimmons really should have saved, I thought.

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BigLeftToe wrote:

Over an hour gone and, as far as I can recall, not a single shot on target.

There’s been a shot on target now!

We seem to have a lot of well-built midfielders with crap hair (Jenkins, Smith, Scales, Law) but Smith looks the pick of them.

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BigLeftToe wrote:

A poor half in which Boston look the better team. Why are we so turgid away from home? It’s like watching a completely different team!

I didn’t think Boston were any better, neither side could get any sort of rhythm at all. Second half seems more promising so fa and at least the fog has lifted.

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Well that was a pretty terrible first half. Creating nothing going forward at all.

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Not sure I’m going to get my money’s worth tonight, can barely see the far side of the pitch in this fog!

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Cheers all. I used it last season but this is the first Tuesday game when I’ve been at home this season.

Anyway, all sorted now, come on Iron, show us more of your six appeal!

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OK cheers. I can see the game on the schedule list but it says at the top “not all fixtures are available for streaming” which is a bit confusing!

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WonderGoals wrote:

You have a local business “catering company” who happens to cater for us and they’re looking to get involved by buying 500 tickets out of their own pockets to give to people who wouldn’t necessarily come otherwise with the proceeds/donations coming the clubs way.

I’ll spell it out for you:

1. Why is it just for people with certain jobs? There are lots of people struggling to pay bills at the moment.
2. Is this going to grow the attendance or just save a few quid for people who would be coming anyway?
3. There are lots of people in Scunthorpe who have never been to a game, are we doing enough to reach them?

Also, if you read the title of the thread, I’ve said this feels like a “missed opportunity” rather than a mistake. That means I think that this gesture of giving away up to 1,000 tickets could have been a chance to contact new potential fans.

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Northumbiron wrote:

We all know what encourages people to come along regularly, and playing at National League North level doesn’t!

Winning 6-0 & 6-1 may be a lever but that’s not going to happen every game.

Classic Catch 22. We need to be higher up the FL Pyramid to get the crowds but to get there we need better attendance now!

That’s true to an extent NI but it’s worth looking at the average crowds during the “boom” years under Swann – they didn’t increase by much and what increase there was largely down to big away followings.

Of course, I can’t imagine what reasons the people of Scunthorpe might have had for not warming to such a charming & successful businessman…

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Awaywego wrote:

If just attracts a few more to come along regularly then it’s a success, as a season ticket holder my £10 ticket will go to someone who goes on a fairly regular basis not to someone who doesn’t, maybe not the clubs intention but is mine.

That’s exactly my point: will it attract any more people to come along regularly?

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I would argue that this is more likely to replace people who would normal pay full price anyway, not sure it’s going to grow the crowd much. I look forward to being proven wrong on that score.

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