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No matter which way you cut it the club has a very bleak future, and as many on here have already said, this is all down to the way Swann has chosen to run the club.
Even if we do the unlikely and survive the drop this season does anyone really think next season will be any better? Swann has made it abundantly clear that he is no longer going to invest into the club, and so far, this is the ONLY promise he has delivered on.
Having said several time in interviews that if anyone wants to buy the club they should contact him, so it’s clear to me that Swann is looking for a way out. Him shifting the ground / land ownership to Coolsilk was a master stroke for a businessman. If the club does end up going into administration the creditors cannot take the real assets (the ground and surrounding land) as they aren’t owned by Scunthorpe United. Scunthorpe United FC Ltd could then dissolved, no more football club, and Swann is left holding the assets. He could knock the ground down, selling the scrap, put in planning permission for more homes / flats / whatever, and walk away with a tidy profit.
I am not saying that this was Swann’s idea from the start, indeed I actually think he did have intentions of getting us into a new ground and the Championship when he arrived. But his failed gamble has resulted in our current plight, and the chips have fallen in such a way that Coolsilk stand to benefit from the failure of Scunthorpe United as a business.
DISCLAIMER: All the above is pure conjecture and is not intended to slander, misrepresent, cause harm or distress to Peter Swann, his family, his business interests, business partners, or anyone else associated with the club, Coolsilk, and / or Peter Swann.
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I think we can all agree that things appear to be heading in the right direction since KH took the reins however, one thing we need to happen quickly is wins!
Whilst improved performances indicate that he’s slowly turning things around we must remember that we need to finish 22nd to avoid being relegated. When we look back at the last few seasons, we can see on average a team needs 47 points to avoid relegation, with both Bristol Rovers and Barnet being relegated with 50 & 51 points respectively. The big question is “How many points do we need this season for safety?”.
Looking at the League 2 table we can see the teams in the relegation battle zone (20th or lower) are all averaging 1 point per game or less. Based on the form from the start of the season we have Carlisle, Oldham and of course us all projected to get less than 40 points for the season. Whilst we could potentially survive the drop on 40 points, I feel that we should be targeting a minimum of 48 points as this would give us a greater chance of avoiding relegation. The issue then becomes how do we get 34 points from the remaining 27 matches? We need KH to start turning this team of dustbins into a cohesive unit quickly so we can start to scrape a few wins and get those points on the board. We were thankful for Orients wasted opportunities last week, and the Bradford match could have gone either way.
December is a very important month for us, and the next two matches could really make or break our season. We need to win the Stevenage match to pull them right into the mix. If we can follow that with an away win at a out of form Hartlepool United (they’ve lost 5 on the bounce) we’ll be able to take some confidence into the Bristol home match, and the very important away match at Oldham on Boxing Day. A few good results this month could see us pull out of the drop zone, and more importantly, drag more teams into the battle. Failing to beat Stevenage and Oldham won’t relegate us, but it will make our job of survival so much harder. I feel that come the end of December we’ll have a much clearer understanding just where we’ll finish come the end of the season!
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“The idea that it’s gonna be impossible to sign decent players in January is wrong.”
Based on what? We have struggled to sign quality players for the last few seasons, and now we are operating under the restrictive T&C’s of the EFL loan that Swann signed us up for.
Try as I might I cannot see any decent player wanting to come to Scunthorpe in the transfer window unless Swann returns to the heady days of signing players on unsustainable wages. To do that, Swann would need to pay-off the EFL loan, and find a way to inject finances into the club without falling foul of the FFP rules.
I hope I am wrong, but I just cannot see how we can sign quality. The best we can hope for is that we manage to offload a few of the dustbins we have in the squad, and replace them with loan signings that are hand picked by Keith Hill.
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Whilst this is indeed good news we have to remember that Swann is a beguiling club owner, and one has to wonder about the timing.
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Lets be honest, this squad is terrible, I mean REALLY terrible. I doubt there’s a manager in the world who could polish the turd that Swann has dumped on us! If we don’t strengthen significantly in the transfer window we will, without a doubt be relegated.
Our only hope is finding 2 teams that are worse than us. That worked for us last season (but only just). I cannot see us being so fortunate this season.
With each and every match that we play I start to dislike Swann more and more.
3 users thanked author for this post.
@Alcazar – yep, right now he is in a strong financial position. His company (Coolsilk) owns the land, and SUFC are tenants of Coolsilk. Should the worst happen, Swann could just walk away with the land, and would likely make a very tidy profit developing on the land.
I guess it all depends on what sort of legacy he wants to leave behind. Whilst the above seems a real possibility, you have to remember that Swann does have a bit of an ego. Being remembered as the person who single handedly destroyed Scunthorpe United is not something he would willingly want on his CV.
I really do believe that Swann is drinking in the last chance saloon. This is his last opportunity to get it right. I feel that if he sorts out the EFL loan situation, backs KH in the transfer window, starts on the ground development, and produces a realistic timetable for the transfer of the football ground and surrounding ground back into SUFC ownership, he will start the healing process with the fans, and they will return. The issue is however, he doesn’t have a great track record delivering on any promises to date. Fans will NEED to see ACTION and NOT WORDS.
Alcazar – totally agree. I have always adopt the following philosophy; when words and actions are in conflict go with the actions as these are likely the persons true intent.
I see regular word salads being given out by Swann, but I see no actions to back it up. Swann is drinking in the last chance saloon. If he doesn’t follow through on his words, he will forever be remembered as the Chairman who never followed through on his promises, drove a large core of the supporters away, and ruined the club!
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The frustrating thing for me was seeing how often we gave the ball away with sloppy passing. Hill definitely has his work cut out over the coming weeks ahead.
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Swann doesn’t have a good track record with his recruitment decisions thus far and this is the biggest decision that he will make during his time at Scunthorpe United. If he gets this appointment wrong then we are doomed to relegation and who knows what follows that!
The next issue is, once he has appointed a new manager, he needs to ensure that the manager can bring in players for the right calibre. Despite what Swann thinks, from what I’ve seen this season the current squad don’t have enough in them to ensure we are safe from the drop. We are short on ability and confidence. I think two or three quality singings would quickly take us from nailed on relegation certainties, to mid-table safety.
Whatever happens, this next week will likely define how history will remember Swann.
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Agree – I think this is the last throw of the dice from a desperate man who has backed himself into a corner.
This will go one of two ways; Swann will appoint from within, and not provide any new cash to strengthen the squad or, Swann will appoint an experienced manager, sort out the EFL loan, and then provide some £££’s to strengthen the squad in Jan.
If Swann opts for the first choice then we are nailed on certainties for relegation this season, likely followed by administration shortly after. If he opts for the second choice then it is likely that we will retain our league status, some of the missing fans will start to return, and we will start to amass debt again.
This is a right f*cking mess!!
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On the pitch – a few green shoots are starting to appear.
Lets not get carried away…whilst the result was good from Saturday’s match, we were heavily indebted to Rory for a couple of top drawer saves in the first half, as was the same in the previous match. Sure it is a welcome relief to get 4 points out of the last two matches, but the margins have been so close it easily could of been 0 points!
With Colchester, Salford, Mansfield, Orient and Bradford all coming up before the end of November, the next month will confirm where we are likely to find ourselves in the league.
As for attendances: Who can blame the fans for not turning up. The board have spent the last few years alienating the core of the fanbase, which has driven many away from the club. All football fans care passionately about their respective clubs, and Scunthorpe United fans are no exception. If fans who have been fallowing the Iron for decades are no longer turning up, you know it’s not just down to the results on the pitch. I suspect that the only way we will see a return to 3,000 plus gates is if the club actually start performing well on the field, or the board start to deliver on their promises; neither of which look likely right now!
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Appointing Cox was yet another blunder in a long series of blunders in the boardroom at Scunthorpe United.
Given that fact that at the time of Cox’s appointment, the club was in the midst of a major cost cutting exercise, it was essential that the club appointed an experienced manager who had delivered good results whilst working on a shoestring budget. Instead, the board decided it was better to go with a manager who had no experience of the top job in the football league.
This mess is all on Swann, he needs to make a change before we find ourselves further adrift at the bottom of the table.
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It just shows how bad things have become under Swann. The finances have been mismanaged to such an extent that we likely cannot afford to sack Cox and his team. There is no other club in the football league where a manager would survive such a poor record.
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How we look since the start of March 21
Pld 30 W 3 D 11 L 14 F 16 A 43 GD -27 Points 20
So we have averaged 0.66 points per match, which over a 46 match season would give us 31 points (I rounded up). It is beyond me how can any manager survive such a record..!!!
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Swann’s word holds little sway with most Scunthorpe United fans as he has failed to deliver on any of his promises to date!
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I’m a little confused…his statement says “the stadium will be returned to Scunthorpe United along with its training facilities and that the club will benefit financially from any such developments.“. Whilst this is good news it seems to be contrary to previous statements made back in April; “We had a loan for £11m, and we decided to write that off against the asset and take the charge off.“.
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Like all the past promises from the Poundland Obramovich, the interview was full of hot air and bluster!!!
I would still like to know why he miss-managed the clubs finances to such an extent that the only option was to transfer the ownership of the ground to one of his companies.
Like most on here I like Cox, he seems like a really nice bloke however, with each passing match I am becoming more and more certain that he just doesn’t have the experience, knowledge, or confidence to get us out of our current mess.
With the constraints that are surrounding the club right now we desperately need an experienced manager who has a proven track record of polishing turds and getting the best out of a squad that is low on ability and confidence. I fear if we don’t call in an experienced manager soon we will swiftly find ourselves several points adrift at the foot of the table.
Sorry to say this…”Cox Out”.
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Playing a high tempo, pressing game for 90 minutes plus added time can be hugely successful, especially in the lower leagues where players are more prone to make mistakes when put under pressure. The big challenge though is that it does require a huge level of fitness from the players, and intelligent use of substitutions to ensure the most fatigued players are replaced in a timely manner.
Whilst it can be successful (as we saw in the first half of the match), unless you have a team of super fit athletes it is almost impossible to play like that for the whole match (as we saw in the second half). To add to that, the cumulative fatigue of playing in such a way week after week will likely lead to a huge slump in performance after a month or so.
If you are to play a pressing / high tempo tactic match after match you will need a big squad of fit athletes so you can rotate them to keep the all fresh. And this is the challenge for us.
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Re: relegation this season: The jury is out as it is a little too early to call it. That said, the signs are not good, and we seem to be going backwards both on and off the pitch.
Swann and co. have a lot to answer for.
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I think you’re all misunderstanding Poundland Ambramovich’s initial statement when he became owner.
He said we will be playing at a new stadium – we are, the SVS!
He said we’d see attacking football – we do, from the opposition!
He said we’d be playing in the Championship – I think he has us on track to play in the Premier League, albeit the Northern Premier League!All-in-all, If your surname is Swann then his tenure has been a raging success…
