Cod Almighty | Article

by Ron Counte

10 August 2022

Our trade in players with neighbours Scunthorpe United says a lot about the clubs' changes in status over the years

Few would argue that over the last year Johnny McAtee has been our stand-out player. That second-flight Luton want him despite his dodgy shoulder speaks volumes.

We signed McAtee from Scunthorpe United and even though they were a division above us at the time, for them it was the writing on the wall. For almost two decades we had lived in the shadow of our neighbours, one, two or even in 2011 three flights below them in the football pyramid. After seeing them poach some of our own better performers - Martin Paterson in 2007 and Conor Townsend in 2015 the boot is once more in its rightful place on the other foot.

Before Scunthorpe's ascendency, they were the destination for Town men who had never quite made the grade or who seemed to be past their sell by date. They had to disconsolately hitch a lift down the A180; in 1997 at least Craig Shakespeare, Paul Harsley, Jimmy Neil and Jamie Forrester could share a taxi

There has not been the volume of trade to say that one club has ever been a feeder for its neighbour. But it is telling to look at the career trajectory of the players who have made the direct move from one to the other.

Before Scunthorpe's ascendency, they were the destination for Town men who had never quite made the grade - Barry Lynch (1973) and Ashley Fickling (1998) - or who seemed to be past their sell-by date: Malcolm Partridge (1979) and Tony Ford (1994). They had to disconsolately hitch a lift down the A180; in 1997 at least Craig Shakespeare, Paul Harsley, Jimmy Neil and Jamie Forrester could share a taxi. Paul Groves, fired as Town's player-manager in 2004, was probably the last to make the journey when Glanford Park was still a football abyss.

Then the Iron turned a corner, leaving claret and blue water behind them after wining promotion to the third tier in 2005. In their pomp, Scunthorpe repaid our dubious favours with Terry Barwick (2005), Sean McAllister (to be fair, not that bad) and Dominic Vose (both 2016) and not forgetting, however hard we try, Peter Beagrie in 2006.

Before McAtee, our most notable signing from Scunthorpe was Kevin Kilmore. Great things were expected of him, perhaps because he shared his initials and first name with another former Scunthorpe player who went on to better things. Kilmore, Scunthorpe’s leading scorer, was signed by George Kerr in September 1979 for what was then a record fee of £60,000 (£282,000 in today's money.) He scored in each of his first two appearances and notched 15 goals in 27 appearances until his season was curtailed by a broken ankle in April. He had made a huge contribution to the 1980 Championship winning side but after that never quite hit the heights that had been predicted, rejoining George Kerr at Rotherham in 1983 before moving to play in Belgium.

There are three older names to consider. Rod Fletcher had been given the tall order of replacing Kevin Keegan and did score 30 goals in 98 appearances for Scunthorpe before moving to Grimsby. Here he suffered a series of injuries and made only 12 appearances with 1 goal. Duncan Welbourne joined us in 1957 and was part of the 1962 promotion-wnning team, making 129 appearances for Town. The most famous player to make the eastward switch was the future Lincoln and England manager Graham Taylor in 1961.

That brings us to our other neighbours, who have recently enjoyed their own moment in the sun. If the contrast in our fortunes is less marked, there is the same pattern. In our ascendency, we got Jack Lewis while offloading onto Lincoln City players whose careers were starting to fade - Phil Hubbard, Nigel Batch, Bob Cumming, Kingsley Black - or who would never shine, like Adam Buckley. When Nathan Arnold joined Lincoln in 2016, it seemed we'd be looking down on the Imps for some time to come, but soon they had shot past us and right on cue, they gave us Elliott Whitehouse.

Of course it’s not only players who make the move, managers do too. Like Paul Hurst in 2021, in 1973 Ron Ashman joined Grimsby from Scunthorpe but while Hurst was coming back to us, Ashman eventually returned for a second spell at the Old Show Ground.

One of the players he managed at both clubs was Malcolm Patridge. Never popular at Grimsby, at least until he opened a record shop in the town, elements in the crowd would shout "Get him off, Ashman" when he miscontrolled the ball. Later, he played up front for the Iron in a derby at Scunthorpe. Again he micontrolled the ball and again the shouts, this time from the Iron, "Get him off, Ashman."

Whatever our rivalries, there are some things we can all agree on.

Front page image by Central Line (cropped by us) CC BY-SA 4.0

Do you agree with Ron's assessment of the Marinrer/Iron exchanges? Are there any players he missed, and where do they fit in the pattern? Let us know.