If the cracks have been multiplying in a week that has seen bills go unpaid and critical supporters banned, then the bleakest of club statements issued on Thursday lunchtime amounted to the point when the walls finally caved in on Scunthorpe United.
No money, no home, and no hope. The brink of collapse.
Eight months after his arrival at Glanford Park offered the promise of salvation and rebirth, owner and chairman David Hilton has confirmed he is “actively seeking a way out”. His funding has ceased and it will now be left to others to provide urgent resuscitation.
There are no guarantees that will come. The club’s ominous statement says there are no potential investors willing to save Scunthorpe and it will instead be left to an “outside company” to work with creditors “to try and ensure all are paid in a timely and professional manner”. Among those is His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which is waiting on an overdue six-figure tax bill.
Scunthorpe is a football club unravelling before the eyes of its supporters, who were warned that “falls in attendances will undoubtedly mean further cuts” that “will inevitably impact the playing squad” and Scunthorpe’s aim of promotion from the National League North, the sixth tier of English football.
Fans of this proud club, an English Football League side for 72 years, might be familiar with hard times after witnessing three relegations in five disastrous seasons, but the sense of despair can never have been more acute.
- The club has confirmed all future home games beyond next weekend will be played at Gainsborough Trinity instead of Glanford Park.
- Several supporters critical of Hilton’s stewardship have been banned from attending home games.
- The Football Association is looking into an offensive message, purported to be from Hilton, which appeared on social media. Hilton denies sending it.
- Strained finances include a host of outstanding bills, including County Court Judgments (CCJs), winding-up petitions and money owed to former players, the EFL and the taxman.
- Players and staff are due to be paid on September 29, but Hilton’s decision to withdraw all funding leaves grave doubts over Scunthorpe’s ability to meet payroll.
- A board assembled by Hilton at the start of this season has been broken up. Keith Waters, chief operating officer of golf’s European PGA Tour, resigned two weeks ago and has since been joined by solicitors Ian Dawson and Tahina Akther.
The visits of Buxton on Saturday and Brackley Town seven days later are set to be Scunthorpe’s last fixtures staged at Glanford Park, the club’s home since 1988. To keep playing games in the Lincolnshire town was “no longer viable” against the backdrop of a legal battle with former owner Peter Swann, who took the ground out of the club’s control in 2020.
Scunthorpe’s home since 1988, Glanford Park (Eddie Garvey/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Home fixtures will instead need to be played 16 miles away at a non-League ground that can hold 4,300 people but, as if to typify the disarray, Gainsborough quickly invited doubt over that proposal with a statement of their own.
“While the club has always been clear that any requests from Scunthorpe United to play fixtures at the KAL Group Stadium would be considered, this would always have to be done by due process, which would involve both clubs and the ground owner,” they said.
This statement was then deleted shortly after it was published, adding further confusion.
Scunthorpe’s first home game at Gainsborough’s stadium would be played on October 24, but the more immediate picture brings a litany of pressing concerns.
The potential to sell players to rival clubs in the National League has already been explored, but there is also the danger of redundancies within a club that has already seen staffing numbers stripped back. Scunthorpe’s club offices are all housed at Glanford Park, as is the first-team training site. It remains unclear if either will be open for use beyond October 7.
A post under Hilton’s childhood name, David White, on Facebook gave a forthright message to one fan.
“I’ve said il [sic] carrying on working hard but won’t give that club my children’s inheritance knowing my days there are numbered,” it said. “I can always leave the keys under the mat for you if you like and your club will be gone in a week.”
A season that was supposed to bring better days for Scunthorpe United is now being choked by uncertainty.
It is two and a half weeks since The Athletic detailed how Hilton has used four different surnames and in April 2015, when known as David Anderson, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to 15 counts of fraud by false representation.
The FA, as the body overseeing owners’ and directors’ tests at National League level, has called them “serious allegations” it is still investigating. Scunthorpe’s latest statement acknowledged that documents had been provided to “evidence the validity of his (Hilton’s) ownership rights” and said they expect the investigation “to be concluded imminently”.
Read more: Investigation: The football club owner with four names believed to have been convicted of fraud
Hilton told a fans’ forum earlier this year he had never been to prison. In a SoundCloud audio clip, promoted by Scunthorpe United’s media channels on September 11 and later deleted, Hilton said he kept the proceeds from a skip hire operation with a local council and pocketed £67,000 ($82,000). “I’m completely embarrassed by it but it happened,” he said.
There were initial attempts to keep a fractured club together. A 2,100-word statement, signed off by Hilton and released 15 minutes before kick-off as Scunthorpe travelled to Brackley Town in an FA Cup qualifier they would lose 3-1, confirmed an intent to sell but only after launching a defence of his brief tenure. Numbers were detailed explaining how he had already invested £2million since January.
The lengthy post also detailed that The Athletic article had led him to halt his funding beyond wages over a six-week period, which resulted in numerous CCJs — issued if a court rules that someone owes you money — being issued against the club, as well as a winding-up petition — an application to wind up or close down a company — from Intelligent Protection Management Group Limited. A bill owed to HMRC, due last week, is also set to result in a separate winding-up petition.
Hilton said that finances were also being placed under further strain by legal action taken by Ian Sharp, who held talks to buy Scunthorpe from Swann at the end of last year and loaned the club £150,000 to cover wages, and Macron, the kit supplier that saw its contract terminated by Hilton this summer.
A former player, George Taft, has complained of money owed and “false promises”, claiming that Scunthorpe had failed to settle his contract when leaving the club in the summer. Pension payments were also claimed to be missing. The Professional Footballers’ Association is actively involved but the players’ union only represents those who signed contracts when the club was in the EFL, from which Scunthorpe were relegated in 2022 after 72 years.
Hilton has attempted to draw a line in the sand but the waves of unrest have quickly washed that away once more.
Saturday brought a 1-1 draw away to Chorley but also the crystallisation of a move away from Glanford Park. Gainsborough, a venue Hilton had proposed as a contingency plan to the National League amid litigation with Swann, the owner of Glanford Park, will become home.
Hilton agreed an initial short-term lease with Swann when buying the club for £3 at the start of February but his failure to sign off on a deal to also buy Glanford Park and its surrounding land has led past and present owners to court. The next stage of the case is due in mid-October.
Posting as David White on Facebook, Hilton said on Sunday that he risked running up bills of £500,000 keeping Scunthorpe at Glanford Park but stressed a decision to play games at Gainsborough had not yet been made. That was until Thursday, when the move was confirmed to fans.
The prospect of Hilton funding a new, purpose-built stadium on the outskirts of the town, a project he said could be completed in time for the 2025-26 season, is now seemingly over, as is the existence of the club’s academy, wound up before this campaign.
Hilton has since stoked a restless fanbase further by banning at least three supporters via email. Two editors of the fans website Iron Bru were told they would not be welcome at Glanford Park, along with another long-serving supporter, Dave Green. Green’s ban has since been rescinded. Green said that he was given an apology within 24 hours by Hilton, who had initially shown no regret when interacting with fans the previous night on Facebook, again under his birth name of White.
The Iron Trust, Scunthorpe’s fans’ group, was unimpressed. “In the UK, we enjoy freedom of speech, which is everyone’s right,” the group wrote in a statement. “We do not condone the use of social media to attack organisations or individuals, nor can we condone the banning of supporters for daring to air their own opinions.”
The controversies following Hilton did not end there. A screenshot of a text message exchange widely shared on social media on Monday night appeared to show Hilton using offensive language. The FA is looking into it and will seek Hilton’s observations. Posting on Facebook, Scunthorpe’s chairman said on Monday he had not written the message.
The latest club statement said: “Numerous fake club statements and messages have been circulating in recent days. We can confirm that no investigation is taking place, to our knowledge, and that all of the material is completely fake. We are appalled by its content.”
Tony Taylor, chair of Level Playing Field, a charity promoting equal access for disabled sports fans, said: “We are deeply concerned and disappointed by the alleged text involving the chairman and owner of Scunthorpe United, David Hilton.
“It is reported that the text allegedly sent by the chairman used a highly offensive and discriminatory disability slur towards the fanbase.
“Furthermore, we would like to underline that individuals who hold derogatory beliefs and express them in such a manner have no place in owning or leading a football club.
“Football clubs are not only businesses, but also vital community institutions that should reflect the values and aspirations of the communities they serve. Owners and leaders of football clubs must set an example of respect, inclusivity, and integrity. We would add that we also expect those standards to be met by all parties involved, be they owners, players, fans or any stakeholder involved in our game. Abusive and discriminatory comments should never be tolerated.”
Hilton says he has no intention of attending this weekend’s league game at home to Buxton — what is now scheduled to be Glanford Park’s penultimate fixture. Scunthorpe have averaged close to 4,000 fans this season and, even in the sixth tier of English football, the stadium remains a place of enormous community value.
Any takeover would require a significant financial commitment. Scunthorpe still owe £1.4million to the EFL from a COVID-19 loan taken out in 2020, and other debts and potential liabilities could end up adding a further £1million.
“We can confirm that numerous parties have made contact with the club with a view to taking over, but faced with stadium issues, litigation proceedings and winding-up petitions no potential purchasers are looking to move forward,” the Scunthorpe statement said. “This includes the consortium of local business people and supporters.”
These remain chaotic, troubling times for Scunthorpe United, a club unsure if its descent still has some way to go.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
