Long-time Scarborough Athletic fan Steve Penny has released a new book documenting the club's season playing away from home, with a portion of the profits going to support the Seadogs.
Long-time Scarborough Athletic fan and reporter Steve Penny has penned a new book detailing the club's challenging season spent playing away from home.
Titled 'Home is Away – a season in exile with Scarborough Athletic', the publication tells the tale of the National League North club's temporary eviction from their Scarborough Sports Village home after serious problems were discovered in the pitch foundations.
Forced to share with their former landlords, Bridlington Town, eighteen miles down the Yorkshire Coast, the team confounded the bookmakers. Despite being tipped as relegation favourites, the Seadogs fought in the play-off places throughout the season.
Alongside match reports and statistics, the author speaks with supporters, club officials, players, the management team, and volunteers about their own journeys with the present and previous clubs. The book also keeps tabs on the progress of work to get the team back to their own ground in time for the 2026/27 season, whether that be in the same division or up a level in the National League, one step below the Football League.
Discussing the motivation behind the book and his goal to raise money for the club, Mr Penny said:
"I've tried to give people a flavour of what makes the club tick and why it's such a family club.
Obviously, the players, a couple of the players are in there, Will Thornton and Alex Wilds saying about his injury misery. I also had a chat with Jono and then some of the club officials, Trevor Bull and a few other people behind the scenes, the kitman, the first aid man, basic basically, everybody that makes the the club it is.
A quarter of all the profits are going to the club and I've got 200 copies to sell, so a fair chunk will hopefully help the the club so I get the funds built up again after the big spend I had to do last year."
The season in exile provided many memorable moments on the pitch, despite the geographical challenges and the temporary relocation.
Reflecting on the highs and lows of the campaign, Mr Penny said:
"The highlight was probably Will Thornton's goal in the last-minute winner at Darlington. That that was just phenomenal. It was That's what the game's all about.
As for the best game that was probably South Shields at home where people beforehand were saying if we get away with 5-0 6-0 defeat we'd have done well. 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go, you think it's not too bad and then we somehow managed to snatch a draw.
The worst game was probably Chorley, I think it was the nil nil draw, but that was also possibly the best game because of the visit from the Dutch Sea Dogs and the fantastic atmosphere and how everybody got cheered when they left the changing rooms three quarters of an hour after the game had finished."
Off the pitch, Scarborough Athletic faced significant financial hurdles throughout the year.
Discussing the fears over the club's survival and their eventual return to Scarborough, Mr Penny added:
"The start of the season once we got the ground, people are a little bit happier thinking at least the club will be playing this season. But then obviously behind the scenes come January, there were genuine fears that the club wouldn't survive the season. There there wasn't enough coming in.
We got a little boost from the Dutch Sea Dogs, suddenly 450 new shareholders turned up. And somehow we managed to limp through the season so that was a success that we've still got a club to to look forward to now playing on what is an actual pitch again rather than just a building site."
Steve is selling the book through his ebay page at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157828469283
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