Football Season Review

Scunthorpe ended the League One season missing out on a play-off place by the finest of margins, as they only finished below sixth-placed Barnsley on goal-difference. The Iron paid the price for the abysmal first half of the season that they had, as they won only two of their opening ten games, with Mark Robins surviving a number of scares regarding his future with the club before finally being dismissed in mid January, with the Iron sitting in the bottom half of the table. The board opted to replace him with Nick Daws, who initially took over as caretaker but was given the job until the end of the season after winning his first four games in charge. It looked for a moment that the Iron could go on and push for a play-off place, but the run of draws that they had in March made the board to bring in Graham Alexander, with the rationale behind the appointment being to try and make an unlikely play-off push or, more realistically, start building for next season. The former Fleetwood man has produced better results than anyone could have anticipated, as the Iron went on to win seven out of eight games that they played under him, but their struggles earlier in the season left them with too much to do, and they ended up missing out on a play-off place by three goals, which was the difference between Barnsley's and their own goal-difference. Having played as a team reborn in the second half of the season and having lost only one of their final fifteen games, they will enter the summer determined to do good business and seal a return to the Championship next season.

Player of the Season: Patrick Madden