Who Are Ya? - Grimsby Town - Vital Lincoln City

Thank you to Grimsby Town supporter “Hagrid” for answering these questions!

Thank you to Grimsby Town supporter “Hagrid” for answering these questions!

How Long Have You Supported Grimsby Town?

Been brought up supporting Town, first game was 1999 at the age of 4.

Last Season’s League Finish?

14th place in League 2.

What Do You Think Of Your Manager?

Obviously a new manager, says all the right things, appears a very different appointment and ones the fans seem happy with. Personally pleased as wanted Slade sacked, has a big task on his hands to keep us away from the bottom 2 but so far yes I’m quite happy with the choice.

Hopes/Expectations This Season?

Stay up, as soon as possible, and look to rebuild in the summer.

One(s) To Watch?

Naturally would say Siriki Dembele but he’s gone off the boil since the start of the year, struggled with injuries, like the look of Malik Wilks but is a doubt for the weekend, has real pace about him.

Top Seven Predictions?

Mansfield Town, Notts County, Coventry City, Swindon Town, Accrington Stanley, Luton Town and Exeter City.

Bottom Two Predictions?

Barnet and Chesterfield.

Thoughts on Lincoln City?

Quite a young town fan (22) so played Lincoln a lot over the years, see them as a main rival, always enjoyed my visits to Sincil Bank as town had a really good run of getting a result there! Pleased to see them back in the FL as the National League is a horrible place to be. Jealous I suppose of the success Lincoln have had since promotion but ultimately they are a rival so I hope it doesn’t continue!!

Score Prediction?

Have to be positive, 1-1! I’d snap your hand off!

Random Fact About Your Club?

We don’t play in Grimsby.

What are your proudest and most embarrassing moments as a Grimsby Town Supporter?

Proudest would be promotion back to the Football League, the day at Wembley was very special, and I’ve not seen scenes like that before with GTFC, it meant a hell of a lot to so many people.

Embarrassing, I’ll pick 2, Halfiax away in 2016 was a very embarrassing day, the performance and behaviour of some fans made it the worst away day I’ve had supporting Town, and back in 2015 a fox pooed under my seat before the game and I stood in it, it stunk the area out and I was ridiculed all the game! All good banter though!

Do you have a Supporters Trust and what role do they play at the Club?

Yes we do have the Trust, they have a seat on the board. Not a member, so not entirely sure what they do, but they are active amongst the fans and it isn’t my place to say the role as I can’t be 100% sure.

Which was your favourite match involving Grimsby Town?

Morecambe away in 2008 (?). I was 12 and first time I’d been at an away game with school the next day! it was the JP trophy area final and was bloody freezing! We were played off the park, Phil Barnes was outstanding in goal and we won 1-0 through a Paul Bolland goal. Got back 2am and for a kid at the time was so excited because we were so close to going to the new Wembley. Strange choice but yeah id go for that one! The Play off final is a very close second.

Which was your least favourite match involving Grimsby Town?

Braintree away 16th August 2011. My birthday, we lost 5-0. Enough said. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

After all the recent speculation of who your new manager may be and those reported to have turned the Grimsby job down, are you confident that the new incumbent will get you moving up the table and to safety?

Yes very confident, and doesn’t bother me that people turned it down. Only rumours aren’t they. I think we will be safe more by others failings however.

Paul Hurst is doing well at Shrewsbury, do you think it could have been Grimsby in League 1 under Paul Hurst?

Who knows? Hurst was not popular with town fans, myself I quite liked him and he delivered us promotion. We were in a good position when he left but no truthfully I don’t think we would have gone up last year, likewise I don’t think we’d be in this position if he was still in charge. That comes to Mr Fenty and Russell Slade.

Appointing the new Grimsby manager seemed to take an age, are you happy with the appointment? If not, who would you have liked Grimsby to appoint as manager? Some up and coming non-league manager? Or youth team manager for example? Or an experienced hand in league 1 or 2?

Happy with the appointment, I think it’s a risk, but rather a risk than someone like Slade who has, for want of a better phrase, ruined us.

Did Grimsby do good business in the January transfer window? With the appointment of a new manager after the window had closed do you think the new manager can really put his stamp on the team and make a difference with the players at his disposal?

No we didn’t. We lost good players. We let our top scorer goal, a creative middle player and replaced them with loanees. The signings on the last day of the window were positive, Suliman from Villa seen as a very astute signing but what troubled most fans is why allow Slade to sign these players and then get rid 2 weeks later, should have gone weeks before in my opinion. Ultimately the new manager has to get us winning games, the team is low on confidence and he’s got a big job to turn it round, but i believe he can do so.

Were fans really as confident in August as they made out that they would compete this season? Or did most see the squad wasn’t good enough?

No I don’t think we were over confident, but I don’t think any of us expected us to be struggling like this, even at Christmas time we thought the play offs were not out of question. It’s an unusual situation, but one we must learn from as a club, we’ve signed poor players, really poor, but I don’t think we ever thought we were going to walk the league and I don’t ever remember town fans saying that.

As we both unfortunately know, the National League can be a sodomist to get out of, from the outside it seems Grimsby would require rebuilding from the bottom to get back up, is that fair?

Yes that’s fair. We need a change from top to bottom, but I cannot see it happening any time soon, the club is rotten, but for the final 9 games we must pull together as one.

What’s been the main reason for not pushing on since promotion?

Lack of continuity and extremely poor judgement from those in key positions, the appointment of Russell Slade was a disaster.

And because these seem a bit harsh: What’s your favourite derby day moment?

Beating Lincoln in the Plays Offs 2005/06, great atmosphere at BP that night, Town won both legs.

Did the alarm bells starting ringing in pre-season when Slade seemed to be signing quite a few 30+ year old players? I think your back four had an average age of 34 at one point this season!

I think we had murmurings but nothing that caused undue concern, if I’m being honest I wouldn’t say that the defence is the problem, we just cannot score!!! Or create!!

But here’s to a good derby! Best of luck for the season, but after Saturday, because we need the 3 points.

Who Are Ya? – Grimsby Town (#2)