| The Iron travel to Crawley on Saturday |
For the new season we are going to run an ‘Opposition Fans views’ article where we ask the opposition fans of our upcoming game their thoughts.
Well after Tuesday night which I don’t think i’ve come back down to earth yet from, we head down to London for our first league game of the season at League 1 new boys Crawley Town.
Here is how they responded to the questions I put to them:
1) What are you expectations for the upcoming season?
Gary M – Anywhere above the bottom 4
Simon – Staying up is fine for me.
Ashdown Red – I would be delighted with mid table come the end of season.
rubyred – Unlike others, I prefer to aim high. Accepting a season of 20+ losses says that if you fail to reach even that level, relegation will follow. Midtable for me and if we get a couple of decent strikers in 10th-5th.
crawleyguy21 – To stay out of a relegation fight and push on for a top half finish.
2) Any Tips for Iron fans heading down for the game (Pubs, Eating, getting to the ground via rail)?
Gary M – Redz bar at the ground. Half Moon nearby. Downsman a little further away are all good.
Simon – The stadium is a bus ride or longish walk from Three Bridges and Crawley stations – bus numbers and times on our website. Redz Bar at he ground welcomes away fans.
Ashdown Red – The Redz bar welcomes away supporters.
rubyred – Reds Bar, all you need is there. Get a cab from Crawley station.
crawleyguy21 – When you get off the train get a taxi to the half moon pub or the stadium. notso – Train to Three Bridges (on the London-Brighton mainline), walk out station and turn left. Go about a hundred yards to bus stop ‘C’ (past the first bus stop, its a little stop by itself), get a number 20 all the way to the stadium – £2 each way)
Robbie – Will look forward to having a chat with any if you that make it in to the Redz bar, as for the game, as stated by others look out for our deadly marksman Big John Akinde, makes Van Persie look very average!!!! As for the season anything above the drop zone will do for me, as for the Bury fans, from what I’ve read they don’t seem too dissapointed to have lost him, just the timing seems to have Riled them a bit.
3) Who is your star man that we should be worried about?
Gary M – John Akinde. A real handful and deadly in front of goal 
Simon – Watch out for John Akinde, burly centre forward and a prolific scorer in the lower leagues danger to passing aircraft.
Ashdown Red – big john Akinde. His first touch in our last game at Milwall was great.
rubyred – Here’s here he’s there he’s every…Sergio Torres.
crawleyguy21 – A team of star men 
I would say that Hope Akpan is going to be our star man this season.
4) What do you think to the appointment of Richie Barker?
Gary M – Good appointment. A hungry young manager.
Simon – Good appointment, lives locally and kept Bury up in similar circumstances last season.
Ashdown Red – An up and coming young manager. Could prove to be a very good appointment.
rubyred – Time will tell. He has of course managed in league 1 and was the only one of the three promoted teams from the previous season to keep them up.
crawleyguy21 – Good appointment, a young hungry manager who has experience at league 1 level.
5) What are your thoughts on the Iron’s chances this season?
Gary M – Decent side. Should be in the mix.
Simon – I know very little about Scunthorpe so will pass on this one.
Ashdown Red – Well as the last time i saw Scunthorpe play you had an outstanding winger in Kevin Keegan, i will also pass on this.
rubyred – Better than last season. Midtable. The Derby win showed you can score, but I notice the BBC stats says Derby had 35 shots at goal (23 on target).
crawleyguy21 – Dont really know to much about you guys but seems like you can score goals (against derby anyway)
and finally 6) Scoreline predition?
Gary M – 2-2 Draw.
Simon – Crawley to win 3-1, no offence to Scunthorpe but if I had a list of winnable games before the season this would be one.
Ashdown Red – I am hoping that your team has not recovered from tuesday night so will go for a home win 2-1.
rubyred – As of now, 2-1 to us . If we have another striker in place by then, 3-1.
crawleyguy21 – 2-1 win to the reds!!
Thank you to all of the Crawley fans who replied on their forum! Sense a slight bit of sarcasm with the Akinde answers, but with our defence he will probably score a hat-trick!
Safe travels to all of the Iron fans travelling down, and let’s start the season with 3 points. Onwards and Upwards, Up the Iron!
Any Old Iron 