Scunthorpe United need talk to stop and action to start if they’re to be saved

Bottom of the National League with a winding-up petition having been served and a takeover moving forward glacially slowly, Scunthorpe United are in a mess.

Considering what has been going on around the club, the result was a pleasant surprise. The first weekend of the New Year brought a 3-0 win for Scunthorpe United against Maidenhead United, with Caolan Lavery scoring their first hat-trick since 2016. It wasn’t enough to lift them off the bottom of the National League table but it did at least close the gap on those above them to just two points, and when you haven’t  won in the league since the last weekend in October, every little helps.

But Scunthorpe supporters aren’t only fretting about the state of the team on the pitch. This week saw confirmation that the club has been served with a winding-up petition by HMRC. HMRC had been ruthless pursuers of outstanding tax and National Insurance in years gone by but seem to have been somewhat quieter of late, possibly pacified by a change in the law which gave them preferred creditor status in insolvency hearings for the first time since 2006. The amount on the petition is not known.

It should go without saying that this is very bad news for Scunthorpe. The club has been up for sale for some considerable time, but it was reported in September that owner Peter Swann was on the verge of agreeing terms to sell the club to a consortium of local businessmen. This sale moved on to due diligence – essentially a pre-sale appraisal of the company to ascertain its commercial position and ensure that there isn’t anything too unpleasant lurking in a corner of the accounts or anything like that – and to begin the process of the transfer of ownership. It was confirmed at the start of December that all concerned had reached terms. 

This confirmation came at the same time as altogether more unsettling rumours from BBC Radio Humberside that players and staff had not been paid on time at the end of November. A month earlier, Chief Operating Officer Lee Turnbull had to dismiss rumours that the club had struggled to pay October’s wages, adding there was no ’cause for concern’, despite wages arriving later than usual into bank accounts at the end of the previous month. Shortly before Christmas, interim manager Michael Nelson confirmed that the club were building an “extensive portfolio” of players to sign for when they are allowed to make transfers after their embargo was lifted. 

But we’re now…