On Saturday, August 19, 2000, Everton were swept aside with ease at Elland Road as Leeds United begun their Premier League campaign with a simplistic victory. The win set the Yorkshire club up for an epic season which eventually saw them finish fourth in the league table, as well as coming mightily close to reaching the Champions League final; finally crashing out to Valencia after having previously knocked out heavyweights Deportivo La Coruna and AC Milan.

In the meantime, Scunthorpe were kicking off the season with a second successive victory, with Kidderminster Harriers the ones to fall at the hands of The Iron in Division Three. But despite this, United were still a million miles away from the likes of Leeds United in footballing terms.

But fast forward just eight years, and the once 'mighty' Leeds will open their season in the more humble surroundings of Glanford Park. The massive chasm between the two sides no longer exists; indeed they even spent one season in 'reverse' roles, with The Iron a division higher than Leeds last season.

The fixture organisers sure picked a cracker to get things kicked off, with one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the League One season coming first. Unfortunately, the powers that be have demanded the game be moved from the traditional 3 o'clock to a lunch time kick off. The one positive that can come from this is that should we win, we will be top of the league for at least a couple of hours!

The Iron will go into the game full of confidence after a thoroughly satisfying afternoon last Saturday which saw them lift the prestigious Lincolnshire Cup after giving the Cods a mighty 4-0 walloping!

That game was bitter-sweet though; some excellent and promising performances and a morale boosting victory against the fiercest of rivals, but yet more knocks and niggles. Gary Hooper finally found his goal scoring boots by bagging a brace in an exciting display; hopefully a sign of things. And Jon Forte continued his good pre-season form by netting again; perhaps these two could be a force to have League One defences quaking in their boots. Forte's form will surely give him confidence after an indifferent season last year. The boy is definitely capable at this level; I remember watching him almost single handedly destroy us at Belle Vue a couple of years ago when he was on loan at Doncaster.

Hooper though was taken off with a slight knock, but will hopefully be fit to line up on Saturday, along with Garry Thompson who was not risked last weekend, also down to a small injury. Ben May will also be looking to shake off an injury having been replaced against Grimsby.

The squad is still a bit thin; a couple more bodies are still needed to bolster the side, though this looks unlikely to happen before Saturday. Amazingly, Jack Cork was linked with a loan return this week in the local rag. Surely they are living in cloud cuckoo land with that rumour! The boy is far too good for League One and looks set for a big future in the game.

All in all though, the pre-season programme looks to have got the players working together; the new lads appear to have settled in well, and look raring to go. It should be a sell out at the weekend, and the local derby atmosphere is sure to sweep over Glanford Park as we see in the new season with what promises to be a hum-dinger! So get yourselves down and get behind Nige and the boys!

Up The Iron!

Carl MacDonald