There is little doubt that Clifford Byrne is an invaluable first team member at Glanford Park.

Originally joining in 2003 as a centre-back Cliff has been converted into a right-back in the last couple of years and has maintained his 'solid and dependable' tag.

He signed initially on a three-month loan deal in November 2002 and impressed all with performances beyond his tender years alongside Mark Jackson at the heart of the Scunthorpe backline and helping the club enjoy success in the league and FA Cup.

Byrne was part of the side that took on then-Premiership giants Leeds United in the third round of the latter competition in January 2003 and was superb against the experienced Mark Viduka.

Cliff made his debut in the 2-0 home win over Swansea City on 23rd November 2002. He has joined just two days earlier to cover an injury crisis after fellow loanee defender Stuart Balmer's return to Oldham Athletic.

He soon became an established member of the first team in his three months at Glanford Park, and Iron boss Brian Laws wanted to sign the Dublin-born Sunderland defender, who joined the North East club in 1997 after trials at Celtic, Blackburn Rovers and Hearts, on a full time basis when the loan expired.

To his credit, Byrne wanted to see out the rest of that season at the Stadium of Light to see if he had a future on Wearside. Howard Wilkinson was in charge of the Black Cats at that point and, to put it lightly, was struggling.

However, Byrne - who Scunthorpe were prepared to splash out £75,000 on the previous season, was available on a free transfer the following summer and the ex-captain of the Sunderland youth sides, plus the Republic of Ireland U-15, U-16, U-18, U-19 and U-21 teams, was quickly snapped up by Scunthorpe and has since proved to be a very valuable squad member.

He netted his first ever goal in a Scunthorpe shirt in the 2-0 win at Kidderminster in September 2003. He ran to the other side of the pitch with, rather bizarrely, the under-soil water sprinklers shooting up, to fire in his first goal for the club.

He has averaged a goal a season since - netting in the thumping 4-1 win over Cheltenham in the 2004/05 promotion season with a peach of a goal from the edge of the 18-yard box, and the third goal in a rousing 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest at Glanford Park last season.

In his autobiography, published just a year earlier, Sunderland legend Niall Quinn commented: "If I was the manager of a Premiership side, I'd buy Cliff Byrne and build a team around him for the next ten years." It was testament to Byrne's ability.

Ben Davies, editor of Sunderland fan site 'A Love Supreme' said: "Byrne should have been our greatest asset but he was never really given a chance to prove his potential."

Rather interestingly, Cliff is already planning for the future - taking his coaching badges while he is still in the infancy of his playing career

His first full year in a Scunthorpe shirt, 2003/04, didn't go according to plan for the team and United only just managed to claim Third Division survival - since then, the only way has been up for the club.

Nevertheless, things got better the next season. Cliff's started most of the games in the second half of the campaign and helped his side to promotion from League Two.

He was also a key player in our 2005/06 League One consolidation campaign in the absence of the injured Nathan Stanton for a lot of the season.

And he became the club's number one right-back in the 2006/07 title-winning campaign. When Nigel Adkins took over as manager, one of the few changes he made to Brian Laws' team selection was the regular inclusion of Byrne on the right side of defence.

2007/08 will be a big campaign for Byrne, who will be aiming to show what he can do in the Championship.