Belated Thoughts From Glanford Park

A few weeks back I went to watch the Sky Blues in action at Scunthorpe where the home side edged a closely-fought game 2-1 to continue an upturn in form that has continued throughout the month.

There was a warm welcome on offer, from the police officers who directed me from the train station to the stewards at the ground who were relaxed about Coventry supporters sitting where they wanted to in the away end rather than sticking to allocated seats.

Although it was only opened in 1988, the first in the new wave of stadium builds, Glanford Park had something of an old-fashioned air about it which for me was a positive but for the club themselves something of a drawback in terms of the commercial opportunities they are missing out on, hence plans in place to redevelop the site completely.

My ticket was £22, probably around par for the division and although the nature of this blog is to highlight special offers and reduced prices I’m under no illusions as to how hard it is for clubs such as Scunthorpe to both survive and be competitive in League One.

Cutting their prices isn’t likely to make much difference to attendances, given the capacity of the ground and the potential fanbase, and therefore a crucial source of revenue would be reduced.

Early-bird prices have been frozen for five seasons and the home fixture against Accrington Stanley on 9th February is 'Grassroots Football Day' with special offers in place for players from local junior clubs and accompanying adults.

For the Sky Blues, this coming Saturday is 'Community Day' at the Ricoh Arena with thousands of tickets given away free to local schools and clubs and the remainder available at just £5 each in all areas of the ground if purchased prior to matchday.

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.

#FiveorFree Football Day at Scunthorpe United

A tough season for Scunthorpe United with Mark Robins departing earlier in the campaign after some inconsistent results.

Having improved under their caretaker management duo, the Iron are finishing on a positive note under new boss Graham Alexander and Saturday's 3-2 victory away to relegated Crewe Alexandra keeps them in the top ten in League One and with mathematical hopes still of making the play-offs.

The town itself has had a difficult year and the football club have sought to recognise this, organising the excellent #SaveourSteel day against Southend United in the FA Cup in October.

News this week has been more positive on that front as well, investment firm Greybull Capital agreeing a deal to buy Tata's Scunthorpe plant.

The final home fixture of the season is against Port Vale on Saturday 30 April at 3pm and the club have decided to reduce prices for Adults in all areas of the ground to £5 with all Under-18’s tickets free of charge.

Speaking to the official club website, chairman Peter Swann said: "We want to build on the positivity here at the moment and take that momentum into next season, when we will look to push on even further."

Scunthorpe United, The FA Cup & #SaveOurSteel

Clearly a club such as Scunthorpe United, known as 'The Iron' and with such strong links to the steel industry, could not ignore the recent news about major job losses in the town but it pleasing (to this observer at least) that they are putting a major effort into publicising the 'Save Our Steel' campaign.

Next Saturday's FA Cup tie at home to Southend United has been dedicated both to the campaign and to those affected by the news and the club are open to any ideas that come from supporters to help with this.

Normal matchday prices have been reduced to £10 (£12 seating) for Adults, £5 (£6) Concessions and £2 for Under-16's.

A Quartet of Offers at Scunthorpe United

As the Iron slowly climb up the League One table under the management of Mark Robins, Scunthorpe United are aiming to boost attendances at their upcoming home fixtures with a number of different offers.

For the matches against Chesterfield (February 17) and Bradford City (March 17), season ticket holders can bring a friend for £5 by visiting the ticket office prior to kick-off on the respective matchday.

Ahead of the games against Swindon Town (February 14) and Yeovil Town (February 28), local newspaper the Scunthorpe Telegraph will be printing a voucher on the previous Thursday which entitles admission to under-16's for free and to adults/concessions for £10.