All strikers are judged on their ability to score goals and there’s nobody with a more prolific record than Steve Cammack in the history of Scunthorpe United.
| During the coming days, we'll republish past interviews with legendary former Iron players from our matchday programme. |
The Sheffield born frontman found the net on 110 occasions in the league during two separate spells with the Iron, and hit a further 11 in cup competitions.
Steve began his professional career with Sheffield United in 1971, making just 36 appearances for the Blades before being signed by Chesterfield in 1975.
Cammack went on to score 27 goals in 87 league appearances during his first spell with the Iron in what was just the beginning of a very successful time in claret and blue for the striker.
And Steve modestly stated that his fruitfulness in front of goal owed large thanks to the calibre of player within the United squad at the time.
“We had some very good creative players at the club back then, despite the fact that we always seemed to struggle,” he continued.
“There were lots of players who were all capable of creating chances for people like myself in and around the box.
“My first instinct was always just to shoot, never to pass, and I think you have to be like that as a striker and maybe that’s why I experienced as much success as I did in front of goal for Scunthorpe.
“Forwards should always be looking to score and that’s what I tried to do. But if you’re not in the right areas, you’re not going to score and it just seemed to work out well for me at Scunthorpe.”
Despite enjoying a fair amount of goal scoring success during his first spell at the club, Cammack made the short hop over to join Lincoln City in 1981.
After just one season with the Imps, Steve transferred back to United who were now managed by Scotsman John Duncan.
And he went on to experience even more joy in the final third during his second stint in North Lincolnshire.
“I’m not too sure how the move to Lincoln came about really. I think they just offered a sum of money and Scunthorpe decided to take it,” he explained.
“Colin Murphy (then manager of Lincoln) was playing me wide right which I didn’t really want and I moved back to Scunthorpe after just a season.
“I was happy at Scunthorpe and I didn’t want to move in the first place but that’s football and it’s up to the club if they want to sell you.
“John Duncan was manager of the club at that point and he did play me wide right a fair bit as well but I still managed to almost pick up where I left off in terms of goal scoring.”
Having scored a total of 121 goals in all competitions for Scunthorpe, Steve sits comfortably at the peak of United’s all-time leading goalscorer chart ahead of Andy Flounders in second place who netted 100 times for the Iron.
And that record is something that Cammack will forever cherish.
“You’ve got to be proud of something like that and I am though I would have liked to have scored a few more,” he enlightened.
“For any player to score over 100 goals for any club has to be looked at as a fantastic achievement, especially nowadays.
“People don’t seem to stay with club’s long enough anymore which is why I can’t see it being beaten.
“But to be honest I hope somebody does beat it because it will mean that Scunthorpe have got a player that is capable of winning football matches for them.”
Cammack’s days at the club were looking numbered when he was loaned out to Port Vale and then Stockport County in the mid 1980’s.
His final departure from United was confirmed in 1986 when he moved to Scarborough but Steve stated that he will always look back on his time at Scunthorpe with ultimate affection.
“I had an operation around my groin area which meant that I couldn’t turn or shoot as well as I wanted to and I didn’t want to make it any worse.
“The manager had brought Steve Johnson in up front and we just kept lumping balls up to him which I didn’t like.
“I did still want to play and I joined Scarborough and then Worksop though I didn’t last long with either of those because I was still feeling my injury.
“I was asked by Bill Green and Richard Money to look after the junior side for a while which I really enjoyed.
“We managed to get them playing quite well but I left that role when Mick Buxton came in and I ended up moving on to other things.
“I always had a good relationship with the fans and I still do. Some of the younger ones don’t recognise me but the older ones do and it’s nice to still feel appreciated by the supporters.”