Sports editor BOB STEELS finds out from Steve Wharton why Ian Baraclough could not continue as manager of Scunthorpe United.

CLUB chairman Steve Wharton knows he cannot afford to get it wrong again with the appointment of the next new manager at Glanford Park.

With the Iron seemingly now destined for a return to League One football next season, whoever takes charge will be a key to the club's future.

Wharton is anxious to find someone who will understand the special culture at Glanford Park, which has seen Scunthorpe punch above their weight for the past seven seasons in a remarkable rise from the doldrums of the basement division to Championship level.

Wharton accepts the chances of avoiding relegation this season are now slim, though the club will still do everything they can to try to stay up.

When United last went down from the Championship, they bounced straight back again 12 months later under the infectious enthusiasm of Nigel Adkins.

The chairman clearly believed that would not happen under Ian Baraclough.

The new man to come in will be charged with the task of making sure the club's decline this season is not terminal and Scunthorpe will not begin drifting back again towards the dark old days in League Two.

United's real problems kicked in last summer when five key players left the club, including strikers Gary Hooper and Paul Hayes who were never effectively replaced.

When boss Adkins himself then quit in late September, it left an inexperienced Baraclough inheriting a difficult situation.

"I feel some responsibility for what has happened because it was me who persuaded Ian to take the manager's job," said Wharton.

"Ian is a super person and I am very disappointed that things have not worked out for him.

"I wanted him to do really well. That's the main reason I appointed him.

"He understood the culture of the club and I hoped he would be able to carry that on."

But it did not work out and after less than six months in charge, Baraclough became the first Scunthorpe manager to be sacked since Mick Buxton back in February 1997.

"It was a very difficult job here for a young man to take," Wharton confessed.

"If anything, he tried too hard.

"He did not inherit the best of squads and since taking over has had to contend with a lot of injuries.

"January was the first opportunity he had to do something about it.

"It was not a knee-jerk reaction to dismiss him after the defeat against Preston on Tuesday night.

"What concerned me was that we had not been playing well for a while.

"I think the players were playing with fear.

"And although I am sure Ian would not admit it himself, I think the pressure was getting to him."

Wharton has turned to youth team coach Tony Daws and chief scout Lee Turnbull to take charge of the first team on a caretaker basis.

They will be at the helm when Scunthorpe travel to Ipswich Town on Saturday.

But Wharton is hoping a new permanent manager might just be in place by the time United then return to action after a two-week international break at Norwich on April 2.

It will be the first time he has had to look outside the club for a manager since he himself took over as chairman 11 years ago.

In 2004, when he returned after a short spell away to a club in turmoil and in danger of being relegated from the Football League, he turned to the man he knew best – manager Brian Laws, who had been put on 'gardening leave' by the regime that briefly took over from Wharton.

When Laws left for Sheffield Wednesday in the winter of 2006, it was physiotherapist Adkins he turned to – and he proved safe hands.

Wharton is a great believer in continuity and he hoped Baraclough would prove equally successful.

So where does he go now?

Inevitably an out of work Laws, who still lives in the Scunthorpe area, will be linked with a return to the club where he built the foundations of the recent successes.

But Wharton suggests otherwise.

"I am still very good friends with Brian but I would not use that friendship to encourage him to be interested in the job," the chairman insisted.

"Brian has served this club very well in the past, but it is always dangerous to consider returning to old ground too many times.

"Obviously if he wanted the job, then he would be a very good candidate."

United will advertise the position – but have already started being inundated by prospective candidates.

"My telephone has already been red hot," Wharton confessed.

"I would like to try to have a new manager in place sooner rather than later.

"I like to think that Scunthorpe have a certain type of culture for bringing on and developing young players.

"There are not too many Nigel Adkins' around, but we will be looking for the type of manager who can bring the best out in players."

Baraclough was unavailable for comment yesterday when contacted by the Telegraph.

For an in-depth reaction to Baraclough's departure, featuring fans' views, bookies' odds for his successor and the thoughts of caretaker boss Tony Daws, see Thursday's Scunthorpe Telegraph.