Scunthorpe United, Luton Town

Two clubs entering 2017 in a positive frame of mind are the Iron and the Hatters as they aim for promotion from their respective divisions.

Scunthorpe United are surprise leaders of League One in many eyes but their form throughout the current campaign is a continuation of the upward curve they experienced towards the end of last season under new manager Graham Alexander.

A veteran of 1,000 matches as a player, Alexander cuts an impressive figure in the game and has already guided Fleetwood Town to promotion in his short managerial career.

Scunthorpe are a club who always try and involve themselves in the local community and don’t exist in isolation. That came to the fore last season when they strongly backed the ‘Save Our Steel’ campaign.

For the visit of Bury on Saturday 7 January, a local promotion is in place (one of the four that are allowed to Football League clubs throughout the course of a campaign) which means that tickets are priced at £10 Adults, £5 Concessions (65+, Under-21, Student), £1 for Under-18's and free for Under-12's.

Fifth in League Two at the time of writing, Luton Town’s future looks good on the pitch under another young manager in the shape of Nathan Jones and also off it as plans have been submitted for a new stadium at Power Court in the centre of the town.

There are quite a few hurdles left to jump (and talk of the Hatters playing at a new ground has been around as long as I can remember) but this looks like a project that can genuinely play a part in a wider regeneration attempt rather than benefit the football club and no-one else.

Luton have also made the headlines this season after receiving a £15,000 fine from the Football League for fielding weakened teams in the Football League Trophy.

This ridiculous state of affairs has come about despite Premier League and Championship clubs being invited into the competition to blood their youngsters (and also give the likes of Peter Crouch and Charlie Adam a run-out), despite Luton actually qualifying for the next stage and despite the fact that fielding the same players throughout the league season would have earned the Hatters a reward.

They have done the only sensible thing in the face of such madness and reduced prices to just £5 for Adults and Concessions and free for Under-16's for the visit of Chesterfield in the last 16 on Tuesday 10 January, kick-off 7:45pm.