If Alan Knill had doubts about the size of the task he faces in charge of Scunthorpe United, Saturday’s trip to Carrow Road provided a chilling reality. CHRIS SUMPTER looks at his first game in charge of the Iron.

FOR A man who arrived at Glanford Park last week with a reputation for being serious and straight-laced, Alan Knill was surprisingly jovial during his maiden post-match press conference.

From the moment he positioned himself behind the microphone inside the Carrow Road media room, there was an air of humorous disbelief at exactly what the 46-year-old had got himself into.

Right from the moment he took a sip from a glass of water positioned in front of him, only to be told Norwich manager Paul Lambert may have been drinking from it, his response was as dry as his throat.

"If I can have anything that rubs off....," he murmured.

It quickly set the tone.

Unlike in some Iron interviews this season, there was not a hint of defending the indefensible.

The new United manager answered with a refreshing honesty the questions he was asked about his side's survival chances, confidence in the Scunthorpe camp and, best of all, his first game in charge.

"You must have just wanted it to end," enquired one reporter.

"Yeah," said the former Bury boss nonchalantly, before quickly following up his agreement with 'at half-time'.

Although initially surprising, think outside of the box and Knill's dry wit becomes more understandable.

After a rude awakening into life in charge of, for another month at least, the Championship's smallest club, you could argue if he hadn't have laughed, he'd have cried.

Although in front of journalists he was thoughtful and composed in speech, Knill's body language told the full extent of what he was feeling.

Always glancing from side to side, or to the back of the room, like a child in their first school play, there was an occasional uneasy look about the one time Rotherham and Bury manager.

Knill suggested he had not seen anything he hadn't been expecting as one-time tyre fitter Grant Holt not so much punctured the Iron defence as ripped it apart with a clinical hat-trick, before substitute Simeon Jackson did exactly the same inside only 18 second half minutes.

His seemingly startled reaction though to the TV cameras shortly after the final whistle suggested different.

Deep down, for all the humour, Knill felt let down.

And with good reason.

"I've never been beaten 6-0 before. That's the first time," he admitted, somewhat proudly.

For all of its embarrassment, Saturday's scoreline will not be of the biggest concern to Knill. It's the manner of the defeat that will have been the big eye-opener.

The game against the high-flying Canaries was supposed to be a chance to put on a show for the new manager, the chance for players to prove they are worthy of a place in his future plans – regardless of in which division they are to be executed.

One game is of course an unfair time frame in which to judge the players' long-term potential, but it certainly wasn't the best of starts.

When Knill was unveiled to the press at Glanford Park on Friday he made clear his intent to play, passing, attacking football.

Implementing that philosophy though is clearly going to take time, with the current squad's ability to excite only a shadow of the one assembled by one of Knill's predecessors, Nigel Adkins.

On the touchline, the Iron boss and his assistant Chris Brass spent several minutes trying to encourage players forward as United broke from the back, only to see them stop, and the ball simply lofted forward, as they reached the halfway mark.

The way in which Knill took a sip from an umpteenth bottle of water before bending forward, with hands on knees, told of his frustrations. Brass just scratched the back of his head and added another paragraph to an already lengthy list of notes.

When asked by this reporter if, at any point, he had wondered 'what have I have got myself into?', the United boss again brought smiles to faces.

"At about the fifth," he said, with a grin.

Knill went on to talk about the week ahead and how the remaining seven games will give him an insight into what he needs to have the desired impact at Glanford Park.

But for all the jokes and the humour in his assessment at just how bad United had been on Saturday, Carrow Road, he insisted, provided a serious insight into what must whet the appetite of any player given the chance to pull on a claret and blue shirt under his tutelage.

"It's funny, we lost by six, but I quite enjoyed everything about it," Knill concluded.

"It's good to be in an arena like this, unfortunately I was watching the opposition's good players.

"I'm hopeful that will change."

If United are to fulfil his ambition of performing at the highest level they can, it simply has to.