In the 2018–19 season, by 24 March 2019 the team were 18th and made the decision to sack Stuart McCall after their 3–1 loss to Rochdale. After around half an hour, Andy Dawson was put in temporary charge until the end of the season. Former boss of rivals Grimsby, Paul Hurst, was appointed as first team manager on 13 May 2019, 9 days following the end of the 2018–19 season. On 30 July 2019, the club signed a stadium naming-rights deal, and the stadium was renamed The Sands Venue Stadium for the 2019–20 EFL League Two season. On 29 January 2020, Hurst was sacked with Scunthorpe in 16th place with Russ Wilcox returning as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Following the disruption caused by COVID-19, the 2019–20 season was ended early via points per game with Scunthorpe finishing in 20th place. During pre-season, Neil Cox was appointed as the permanent manager. In 2020–21, the majority of fixtures were played behind closed doors with Scunthorpe finishing in 22nd place; avoiding relegation by three points which included no wins from their final ten fixtures.