Iron skipper Rory McArdle says he can’t wait to return to training with his team-mates next week.
United will begin their campaign with a trip to face newly-promoted Coventry City on Saturday, August 4th, and conclude it with a visit to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, May 4th.
The 31-year-old provided his reaction to the fixture release and looked at various points in the campaign with Scunthorpe-United.co.uk.
THE OPENER AT COVENTRY CITY…
RM: As all the games are through the season, it will be difficult. It’s important we get ourselves ready in the right way and have a good start to the season. As you see when teams get promoted, they always tend to have that extra confidence and buoyancy on the back of the success they’ve had. Playing them early on this season, they’ll be full of that. Everyone knows their manager (Mark Robins) used to be in charge at Scunthorpe as well so he’ll be looking at the game too I’m sure.
FIRST HOME GAME AGAINST WALSALL A WEEK LATER…
RM: They have some good young players, who will benefit from the experience of last season and will be looking to kick on again this year, We need to make our home form as strong as possible and make it hard for people to come to Glanford Park. We’ll be aiming for a nice positive start at home and to get everyone behind us.
SUNDERLAND AWAY THE FOLLOWING WEEK…
RM: A lot of the fans will be looking at that fixture, as it’s a massive club at a big stadium. We’re not just going there to have a look around though, we need to put on a performance. It’s another game of football from our point of view with three points available.
THE FESTIVE PERIOD COMPRISING OF BRADFORD AWAY, LUTON AND WYCOMBE AT HOME AND PETERBOROUGH AWAY…
RM: When the Christmas fixtures come, people always talk about how quick the turnaround of games is and the impact it has on your season. We’re looking forward to the games coming thick and fast. The whole squad is used over those games and when that time comes it’s important we look after ourselves over that period and get the points we need.
FACING A TRIP TO CHARLTON ON EASTER MONDAY…
RM: That’s how it falls sometimes. The travelling has to be done at some point and everyone is used to it. We had a good result down at Charlton last year and hopefully we can put in a similar sort of performance and get the result.
CONCLUDING THE CAMPAIGN WITH PLYMOUTH AWAY…
RM: It’s a long trip and has to be done. Sometimes it’s better to do these ones at the start or end of a season because the condition of the pitch will be good and the weather will be decent.
ON THE SUMMER SO FAR AND THE PLAYERS’ RETURN NEXT WEEK…
RM: The first few weeks are always strange and quiet, and then as it goes on, you have a look around and start to run out of things to do. At the moment, the World Cup is on so everyone is focused on that and getting their football dose from it. We’re all looking forward to getting back in, seeing each other and catching up. It will be good to return for pre-season, where the hard work starts and we’ll look to push on from where we were last year. The time where people have five-to-six weeks off and come back to pre-season, having not done any work is long gone. Generally now, when the lads come back in, they really hit the ground running. Everyone comes back in good condition - that helps everyone and means we can start by training properly and not have to play catch-up.
Visit iFollow Iron, the club website and social media to see features with the players on their return to training next week.