Full name | Scunthorpe United Football Club | ||
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Nickname(s) | The Iron | ||
Founded | 1899 | ||
Ground | Glanford Park | ||
Capacity | 9,087 | ||
Chairman | Michelle Harness | ||
Manager | Andy Butler | ||
League | National League North | ||
2023–24 | National League North, 2nd of 24 | ||
Website | https://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk/ | ||
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Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system.
The club was formed in 1899 and turned professional after joining the Midland League in 1912. Crowned Midland League champions in the 1926–27 and 1938–39 campaigns, they were elected into the Football League in 1950. They went on to secure promotion as champions of the Third Division North in 1957–58 and spent six seasons in the Second Division, before they were relegated in 1964 and then down to the Fourth Division in 1968. United spent 34 of the next 37 seasons in the basement tier, punctuated by one-season stays in the third tier after they secured promotions in 1971–72, 1982–83 and 1998–99. Brian Laws saw the club promoted out of League Two at the end of the 2004–05 season and his successor, Nigel Adkins, led the club to the League One title in 2006–07. Scunthorpe spent just one season in the Championship, but victory in the 2009 League One play-off final saw the club promoted back into the Championship. They remained in the second tier until two relegations in as many years saw them back into the fourth tier by 2013. Scunthorpe were promoted to League One at the end of the 2013–14 campaign, before being relegated back to League Two in 2019. In 2022, the club was relegated to the National League, ending a 72-year spell in the Football League, and a year later were relegated again, to the National League North.
The team is nicknamed "The Iron", and has played in a home strip of claret and blue for most of the club's history. They play their home games at The Attis Arena (formerly known as Glanford Park, having moved from their original stadium, the Old Show Ground, in 1988. They used to contest Humber derby games with local rivals Grimsby Town and the bigger Hull City, as well as Lincolnshire derby games with Boston United, Gainsborough Trinity and Lincoln City.