The Opponent: Scunthorpe United
Here we go again. For those that read this bit, welcome back. For those that have the power and choose not to read it, go wash your hair. I have been looking forward to the familiar trudge to the County Ground I must admit, it feels like its been far too long, Court cases aside, its been a summer of very little activity so far, if Twitter is to be believed we will be down by Christmas.
Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, is a fairly small town, with just under 75’000 inhabitants but is the highest steel processing town in the UK. Evidence of its existence can be dated back to the Doomsday Book. Scunthorpe was close to the epicentre (this was centred at Ludford, near Louth) of one of the largest earthquakes experienced in the British Isles on 27 February 2008, with a magnitude of 5.2. Significant shocks were felt in Scunthorpe and the surrounding North Lincolnshire area. The main 10-second quake, which struck at 00:56 GMT at a depth of 9.6 mi (15.4 km), was the biggest recorded example since one with a magnitude of 5.4 struck north Wales in 1984.
In 1996 there was controversy when AOL's obscenity filter (among others) refused to accept the name of the town due to its inclusion of the substring cunt, which the filter rejected as obscene. Some online forums display the name as S****horpe, while Fark.com would display it as Scoonthorpe. This situation is known in the computing world as the Scunthorpe Problem. Other places that were part of this problem included Lightwater and Clitheroe.
They have served us both – Curtis Weston, Nicky Ajose, Tony Warner, Bobby Smith, Danny Wilson, Michael Timlin, Easyjet Esajas, Syd Brookes, Michael Rose, David Prutton, Nagy Nick, Keith O’Halloran, Mike Grella, David Lucas, Ian Miller, Norman Oakley, Les Roberts, Francis Alford, Dany N’Guessan, Keith Horlock, Deon Burton, Callum Kennedy, Frank Burrows, Steve Mildenhall, Bobby Barnes
The Odds – Swindon 23/20 Draw 11/5 Scunthorpe 5/2 Paddy Madden is 7/1 with Hills to score first for The Iron, our best bets are Smith and Williams both at 11/2.
The Son Says – A few days after the season ended he decided to break his arm in 2 places leading to the next 3 months in plaster with plenty of GWH visits in between, but now the cast is off and his positive frame of mind has returned. 2-1 opening day victory.
The Prediction – Despite not signing Messi, Sanchez and Suarez I still think we have enough to win this and win we will, 3-0. 2 from Michael Smith and a late Luongo thunderbolt to send the majority of 8’122 home happy, the 323 from Lincolnshire will face the long journey home with nothing to show apart from an overpriced Burger King on the M1.
And Finally – As a few may remember, back in August 1963, Scunthorpe and Lindsey United became our first ever opponents in the 2nd tier of English Football, following our first ever promotion the season before. We went on to win 3-0 that day with the legendary Ernie Hunt amongst the scorers. Scunthorpe were sadly relegated the same season.
