Laws focused on reviving Iron

Brian Laws is determined to bring the good times back to Scunthorpe as he embarks on his third stint in charge at Glanford Park.

Laws was officially unveiled on Tuesday afternoon after being appointed 24 hours ago, a swift move which came on the same day Alan Knill was relieved of his duties as Iron boss. Scunthorpe, winless in seven games, find themselves third bottom in League One, having tasted success just twice in 15 matches this term. It comes after the North Lincolnshire club only just survived last season having found themselves back in the third tier following relegation from the Championship. Laws is the man charged with bringing the glory days back, having celebrated promotions when in charge in 1999 and 2005. "I'm excited about getting back involved with Scunthorpe, it's my home town and it's a club I have close to my heart," said Laws. "It's obviously on its downers and I want to come in and try to pick them up to get out of the doldrums and out of the bottom four. "It's not pleasing to see (the position the club's in at the moment) and it doesn't read well when they've got used to losing rather than winning, and that's a mentality we need to change. "It's important we get this as quickly as we possibly can. It's a difficult situation to come into, but I believe we've got the players here to turn it around and that's something we'll be working hard to achieve very, very quickly. "We built our success on solid foundations and an ethos within the football club to overachieve. We've always excelled ourselves every season for the last decade, it's gone the reversal of that and it's underachieving at this moment in time. "It's in unfamiliar territory and we need to address that as quickly as possible." Laws first took charge of Scunthorpe in 1997 before being sacked in March 2004, only to be handed his job back again three weeks later. He duly delivered promotion to League One the following season and kept Scunthorpe in the third tier before departing for Sheffield Wednesday in 2006. Laws has most recently enjoyed a short stint as director of football at Irish club Shamrock Rovers but, despite their desire to keep hold of his services, he was determined to return to England. And he admits he held talks with fellow League One club Hartlepool over their current vacancy before the Iron came calling over the weekend. "I had spoken to Hartlepool," Laws said. "It's been one of those where I was looking to get back into work but I think it's all about timing. "The fact Steve Wharton (the Scunthorpe chairman) rang me Saturday evening to speak to me on Sunday altered that situation, and the fact my wife has been working here (at the club's study centre) for the last 20 years will tell you that she'd kill me if I was to go anywhere else."