Club Statement: Michael Nelson

Scunthorpe United is saddened to announce the departure of Head Coach Michael Nelson.

He leaves the club for personal reasons after securing a job closer to home, where he will be able to provide greater support and care for his family.

Michael has been a model professional throughout his entire time at the club, and the door remains firmly open should he choose to return in the future.

He ends his second stint with United with nothing but well wishes for the future.

On his departure, Nelson said: “There are a couple of minor issues at home, so I just wanted to get closer to home regularly, which I haven’t been able to do for a large part of my career. The opportunity came up and it ticks a lot of boxes.

“The job also came up just before I went in at Hartlepool, so I already knew about it. It’s not something I’ve gone looking for, it’s just happened to come up. The stage of things going on outside of football, at home, inside my family life, makes it much more suited.

“It’s a college-academy, which is quite high profile over what they’ve done over the last few years. It’s been a tough decision, but I’ve had a number of conversations with my wife over what was best for us, and this is the decision I’ve made.

“The Chairman was great when I spoke to him. One of the first things he said was there would always be a job for me if I changed my mind, which was nice of him. The new role doesn’t start until 1st July, but I wanted to tell the club as early as I could so Jimmy and Chris could go and get some support.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here. There were some dark days, but all of the staff I’ve worked with have been fantastic with me. It’s exciting times for the club. Every player that’s been brought in so far is of a high quality. If the club keeps recruiting the way they are, and knowing the way Jimmy and Chris work, I’m sure there are good times ahead.

“To the fans, I’d like to say thank you. We’ve spoken about it a number of times as staff, I never really thought that, for the situation the club was in six weeks before David came in, that the fans got toxic towards the staff or the players. Once we started to pull results out of the bag and performances started to improve, I think you could really see that the fans were buying into everything and really supporting the staff and the players.

“A massive thank you to them. They really kept us going through the disappointing dark times. Hopefully doing that will get some rewards this season.”

Supporters can view an extensive interview with Michael following his decision to depart by clicking here.