Michael Clunan named club captain for 2023-24

The Iron can confirm that midfielder Michael Clunan has been named as the club's captain for the 2023-24 season.

The 29-year-old penned a one-year contract after departing King's Lynn Town in the summer.

While with the Linnets, Clunan was their long-term captain and had spent the last eight seasons there, skippering them to promotion from the Southern League and National League South in his time there.

He also experienced two seasons in the National League, where he was a stand-out performer during their time in the fifth tier.

The former Norwich player made 47 appearances for them in the National League North last season, scoring four times, and was also named in the divisional team of the season.

Clunan has been a standout leader in pre-season so far and has shared the captain's armband in games throughout.

Defender Andrew Boyce has been named as vice-captain of the side.

Speaking about the appointment, First Team Manager Jimmy Dean said: "I'll start with Boycey - he's been fantastic for me. He knows the club inside out, he's been here over tow spells, and he's a great guy.

"Mikey is someone I know well and was desperate to bring into the club. He's a born leader, he's busy and he thrives off it and you get more out of him. When he's captain, he gets more out of everyone around him.

"He's done it for six years at King's Lynn. He's won this league doing it, he was runner-up last season doing it. He's made for the job. You can see by his performances out on the pitch that he can carry it, and he's someone that I can trust. That's a big thing for me as a manager, it has to be someone I can trust and someone I can speak to.

"I'm delighted to have him as our captain."

On his appointment as skipper for the season, Clunan added: "It’s a big honour for me, and it’s a huge football club. I’m really looking forward to hopefully leading it to a promotion this year getting us back where we belong."

“It was six years that I was captain at King's Lynn, and it comes quite naturally to be that role in the dressing room but it’s also a great group of lads with so many leaders, so I expect my job to be quite easy.

“I like the responsibility and I like to organise on the pitch. I think it’s a good trait of mine and hopefully the gaffer has made the right decision. But also, I have been the captain in a few of the pre-season games and the lads have been great and have supported me so hopefully we can take those pre-season performances into the start of the season and get a good result on Saturday”.