Club statement: King's Lynn Town encounter

Scunthorpe United would like to clarify the reasons for the change of fixture when we play King’s Lynn Town, with the fixture brought forward from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve.

Fundamentally, the main reason for the alteration of the fixture was one requested by the football department. Bringing the fixture forward will give the squad an extra day recovery, with our festive matches now taking place on Thursday, Tuesday and Saturday, rather than Thursday, Wednesday and Saturday - a more equal split, and will assist in maximising the team’s chances of maximum points over Christmas and New Year. 

An extra day recovery between the King’s Lynn and Brackley Town fixtures could be pivotal, as both sides will undoubtedly be challenging towards the top of the league. 

It was a decision that was agreed by our opposition, King’s Lynn Town, and ratified by the Vanarama National League.

Secondly, the costing implications of hosting a match on New Year’s Day continue to increase. The cost levels of policing and stewarding on New Year’s Day would be far greater, and would absorb the majority of our gate receipts on the day. The club has also struggled in the past to attain appropriate levels of staffing on Bank Holiday encounters, resulting in the club using greater number of agency staff, which again drives up the cost of running a matchday. With the fixture originally falling on a Bank Holiday, policing levels, and therefore costs, automatically increase, while any agency staff we would have to order would also command a greater hourly rate.

Scunthorpe United is aware that the change of fixture may impact in some supporters not being able to attend the game, but equally the change will allow some supporters, who weren’t able to attend on New Year’s Day, to now be able to come to the game.

Scunthorpe United would like to apologise to supporters affected by this decision, and hope that by giving fans the greatest possible notice of this switch will result in some being able to amend plans to still attend the game.