# 2009–10 Scunthorpe United F.C. season

During the 2009–10 English football season, Scunthorpe United F.C. competed in the Football League Championship.

## Season summary

Scunthorpe struggled all season on their return to the Championship, but eventually managed to survive. The goals of Gary Hooper, who was third-highest top-scorer in the Championship with 19, ahead of the likes of Charlie Adam and Andy Carroll, were crucial to the club's survival, but he left at the end of the season to join Scottish giants Celtic. His strike partner, Paul Hayes, also left, to Preston North End, making Scunthorpe's task of surviving in the Championship for a second consecutive season all the more difficult.

## Kit

Scunthorpe's kit was manufactured by Carlotti and sponsored by Rainham Steel, with Smith's Fashion as secondary kit sponsors. Scunthorpe's home kits reverted to stripes for the first time since 1992, with the home kits featuring blue shirts, black shorts and blue socks with black turnovers.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | IRL | Joe Murphy |
| 2 | MF | ENG | Andrew Wright |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Marcus Williams |
| 4 | MF | ENG | Sam Togwell |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Kenny Milne |
| 6 | DF | IRL | Cliff Byrne (captain) |
| 7 | MF | ENG | Matthew Sparrow |
| 8 | MF | NIR | Grant McCann |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Paul Hayes |
| 10 | FW | ENG | Gary Hooper |
| 11 | MF | ENG | Garry Thompson |
| 12 | DF | ENG | Rob Jones |
| 14 | FW | BRB | Jonathan Forte |
| 15 | DF | ENG | David Mirfin |
| 16 | MF | ENG | Martyn Woolford |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | FW | ENG | Ben May |
| 18 | MF | NIR | Michael O'Connor |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Josh Wright |
| 20 | FW | IRL | Donal McDermott (on loan from Manchester City) |
| 21 | DF | ENG | Jake Picton |
| 22 | GK | ENG | Josh Lillis |
| 23 | GK | ENG | Sam Slocombe |
| 24 | FW | ENG | Matt Godden |
| 26 | DF | ENG | Niall Canavan |
| 27 | MF | ENG | Ian Morris |
| 28 | DF | ENG | Rory Coleman |
| 29 | FW | ENG | Adam Boyes |
| 30 | DF | ENG | Andy Crosby |
| 32 | DF | ENG | Michael Raynes |
| 33 | DF | SCO | Jimmy McNulty (on loan from Brighton) |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | ENG | Kevan Hurst (to Carlisle United) |
| 20 | DF | ENG | Jordan Spence (on loan from West Ham United) |
| 25 | FW | ENG | Peter Winn (on loan to Gateshead) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 31 | DF | ENG | George Friend (on loan from Wolves) |
| 31 | DF | IRL | Brendan Moloney (on loan from Forest) |
| 32 | DF | ENG | Bondz N'Gala (on loan from West Ham United) |

## Competitions

Win  Draw  Loss

### League

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| Result | 0–4 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 |
| Position | 24 | 10 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 21 |
| Round | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Result | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–4 | 2–2 |
| Position | 19 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 20 |

#### August

A bruising return to life back in the Championship for Scunthorpe began with a 0–4 thrashing at the brand new Cardiff City Stadium which saw them immediately sink to the bottom of the table, although a win at home to Derby offered some form of redemption as well as hope that survival may not be beyond them. Defeats at home to recently relegated Middlesbrough and QPR, interspersed with another mauling on their travels at Sheffield Wednesday, meant that the Iron ended August having lost 4 out of 5 league games. Two wins in the League Cup provided some light relief as Scunny progressed into the third round of the competition.

#### September

September began with a much greater encouragement as Scunthorpe kickstarted their season with an impressive 4–0 win at Crystal Palace, followed up with victory over Preston at Glanford Park. A pair of injury-time equalisers (both from Grant McCann), first at Bristol City then again at home to Doncaster, pushed them up to 15th in the early season table, before their 4-match unbeaten run was ended by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.