Byrne: I don't want to be a failure again

WHERE most people would look to forget about the pain of relegation, Cliff Byrne is determined to hang on to it.

The Scunthorpe United defender vividly remembers how he felt on April 12 2008 when a return to League One football was confirmed with a 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

And it is something he is desperate not to go through again.

That experience, and the urge to avoid a repeat this year, is what will set the Iron apart from their fellow relegation battlers, according to Byrne.

"We've suffered relegation out of this league before," said the Irishman.

"We had to go through the following season and play nearly 52 games to get ourselves back up.

"We've done it the hard way. We know what it's all about and we're not prepared to give it up easily. Certainly not without a fight.

"Some new lads this year maybe won't be aware of that but they will be made aware of it coming into these last 12 games.

"It was at Crystal Palace where it was finally decided we would be going back down.

"It was a difficult, difficult pill to swallow.

"No matter what people think, or how the table looks, effectively you failed that year because you're goal was to stay up.

"We didn't. We failed.

"Nobody wants to be a failure, especially me. I'm all about winning and that's what we want to do this year."

Read the rest of this article, as well as in-depth look at the big decisions United boss Nigel Adkins will have to make in the coming weeks, in today's Telegraph.