Peter Winn Q & A

United's young player of the year 2006/07

Peter Winn has made a favourable impression at the club in the past couple of seasons and in the process picked up the young player of the season gong for the 2006/07 campaign.

He originally joined United as a goalkeeper but was converted into his old winger/striker role and he hasn't looked back since.

He has made just two appearances for United, both coming in the LDV Vans Trophy, but continues to impress in the reserve side and he is hoping to break into the first team squad in the not too distant future.

You were born in Cleethorpes, so why United and not the Cods?

I went to Grimsby when I was 11-years-old as an outfield player. I was playing left wing for my old Sunday league team against Grimsby Town U12s, but unfortunately they said I wasn't good enough for their youth setup. That's the main reason I didn't go there. Then I came to Scunthorpe as a goalkeeper. I think it was Paul Longdon that was the U12 coach at the time and he took me on.

So you started off at Scunthorpe as a goalkeeper, what happened there?

Until I was 12 I was an outfield player, but then I went to a Sunday league team that needed a goalkeeper. Fortunately, the manager of the Sunday league team's son played for the U12 side at Scunthorpe and he recommended me to Paul Longdon and Tom Spall who took me on.

"Tony's a great coach"

Obviously you were only a young lad when Paul Wilson left for Donny, but there had been some good home grown talent coming through the youth set up. What did you make of Paul Wilson and his youth team set up?

Paul brought players like Marcus Williams, Andy Butler and Josh Lillis through the youth system, who have now all made the grade for us. Tony Daws is a great coach; it's really down to him that Joe Wilcox and myself progressed through the development system.

The club has received some criticism as there hasn't been many coming through the YT system of late, what do you think the main reason for this is?

There are a few good players in the youth team at the moment that Tony has helped develop. These players will hopefully be the future of the club. I don't think there is a reason for not many players coming through; you just have to be patient when developing youth players.

You previously mentioned Peter Beagrie as a big influence in improving your game, who else has really helped you push on at United?

I learned a lot from him because I used to watch him in matches and tried to emulate what he did on the pitch. There's not any single person that I can single out for helping me push through because everybody at the club has pushed me and helped me since my first year YT.

You've watched most of this season from the sidelines, what positives can the side take from their first season in the Championship?

There are no negatives at all this season, everything the team has done this season has been positive. The team has worked hard not just for themselves but for each other. The teams that come up from League One are expected to go straight back down, but I'm confident we will stay up.


Our thanks to Pete who took the time out to talk to Iron-Bru.net's Matt Blanchard