HIGHS & LOWS
Posted on: Mon 25 Jun 2007
- In 1899 Brumby Hall joined forces with another team to call themselves Scunthorpe United.
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- In 1910 they merged with local rivals Lindsey United.
- Scunthorpe and Lindsey United were admitted to the Midland League in 1912.
- First application to the Football League came in 1921, but was rejected.
- 1927 Scunthorpe and Lindsey United won the championship for the first time.
- Clinched the championship again in 1939.
- They applied each year after the war to join the League, but only in 1949, when the League agreed to increase the number of clubs from 88 to 92, did things look more promising.
- In 1950, after a number of ballots, Scunthorpe were elected ahead of Workington and Wigan.
- August 19 1950 saw United draw 0-0 at home to Shrewsbury Town in front of 11,847 people at the Old Show Ground.
- United finished their debut season in 12th place in Division Three North.
- United clinched the Division Three North championship in 1958, finishing seven points clear of Accrington Stanley to win promotion to Division Two.
- 1961/62 saw United lead Division Two but the sale of goalscorer Barrie Thomas, whom had scored 31 goals in the first 24 games, upset the rhythm and United eventually finished fourth, their highest ever league position.
- In 1963/64 United finished bottom and were relegated to Division Three.
- Thomas did return but even he couldn't make the difference and after four seasons, they collected the wooden spoon again to drop to the basement division in 1968.
- Although the club struggled, the likes of Ray Clemence and Kevin Keegan both broke into the United team in the late 1960s and both went on to enjoy fame with Liverpool and England.
- 1972 saw Scunthorpe pip Lincoln City by a point to win promotion to Division Three but a year later Scunthorpe were relegated, finishing seven points adrift at the bottom of the table.
- In 1981-82 the Iron finished second bottom and had to seek re-election but some shrewd buys saw United transform their fortunes and win promotion at Chester City just 12 months later. Relegation though, followed a year later.
- In May 1998 the Old Show Ground was demolished for supermarket development and the club switched to Glanford Park, a new purpose-built stadium.
- In 1992 Scunthorpe lost to Blackpool at Wembley in a penalty shoot-out. Graham Alexander and Jason White both missed from the spot as the Iron missed out on promotion.
- In 1999 Wembley again but this time success. Alex Calvo-Garcia scores the only goal after seven minutes to send United into Division Two, at Leyton Orient's expense.
- 2000 sees United relegated back to Division Three, defeat at Oxford on the second to last Saturday seals United's fate.
- 2003 More Play-off heartbreak as Lincoln City beat the Iron 6-3 on aggregate in the semi-final stage.
- 2004 The Iron narrowly avoid relegation in a turbulent season that sees manager Brian Laws leave the club and then return three weeks later following Steve Wharton's return as Chairman. The Iron finished third from bottom ahead of relegated York and Carlisle.
- 2005 In an amazing turn in fortunes the Iron finish in second place behind Champions Yeovil to win promotion to League 1.
- 2006 The Iron finish 12th in League 1 to end a run of 49 years without achieving consecutive seasons out of the bottom division.
- 2007 As Brian Laws ends a 10 year stay with the Iron, United enjoy a record breaking season. New boss Nigel Adkins leads United to new records for the number of away games unbeaten, number of games unbeaten, and number of consecutive victories as they earn win League One championship, finishing with 91 points.
