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"Over 46 games, you get what you deserve - and this team deserves to win the league. We weren't at our best at Blackpool, not by a long stretch, but it had been an emotional week for us. Deep down, we knew we had clinched the title with our victory at Tranmere. It's a massive achievement for a club the size of Scunthorpe to be going into the Championship. I don't think it will sink in for a while yet.
"It was nice to clinch promotion at home in the Huddersfield game - a couple of years ago when we last won promotion, it went down to the last game of the season at Shrewsbury, which was a very nervous game. This time round it's been great as we got promotion at home.
"Players and managers come and go from football clubs but it's the fans who stay forever and only they will know just how much this really means. Saturday is going to be a great day for them - and I hope they come here and make as much noise as they can. It's a day I hope we can all enjoy. We are really looking forward to it.
"It's going to be a great moment for me personally to go forward and lift the trophy. I remember when I won promotion with Brighton, watching the captain go forward to lift the trophy and thinking that I would love to do that. It will be a special moment for me, the sort you can't buy in football. It's going to be a great day tomorrow, being presented with the trophy and for all the lads to get their medals in front of their home crowd.
"It's something we all come into the game for, to try and be part of winning teams, and to be captain of one is very special. But we deserve it. We have been the best team in League One this season - and this club is now heading for the Championship.
"It's going to be great next year, sampling life in the Championship. Something like three quarters of the clubs have played in the Premiership; the money some of the clubs in that league have got is phenomenal, but Colchester have done really well this season and the fact that they have been in touch with the play-offs for much of the season has proved that you can achieve things."
Meanwhile boss Nigel Adkins, who took over the managerial role in November 2006 after the departure of Brian Laws to Sheffield Wednesday, commented to the official site :
"When we had a change of management in November nobody expected us to stay in this race, That was our focus, we planned to stay in the race for the start of the January transfer window, where there was the possibility of players coming and going.
"We didn't just stay in the race; we started New Year's Day leading the race, top of the tree! We have been top of the League on January 1st, February 1st, March 1st, April 1st and May 1st. We are champions because we are a TEAM, Together Everyone Achieves More."
As is often the case with promoted sides Scunthorpe have had few injury problems this season, manager Nigel Adkins having a fully-fit squad at his disposal tomorrow. One-time Carlisle target Ramon Calliste was released by the Iron this week after struggling with an ankle injury for almost the whole of the campaign, while on-loan winger Kevan Hurst will become a club record signing for Scunthorpe next week when he moves to Glanford Park on a permanent basis from Sheffield United for a fee of £200,000.
The referee for tomorrow's match, who will oversee a pre-match one minute silence in memory of the late Corporal Ben Leaning from Scunthorpe who was killed whilst on active service in Iraq, is Jarnail Singh from Hounslow in Middlesex, and he will be assisted down the lines by two Yorkshiremen in Richard Hewitt from Scarborough and Jock Waugh from Sheffield. Meanwhile the fourth official will be Nigel Murphy from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire.