‘Fans can now be upbeat about the future - despite relegation blow’
A SUPPORTER’S TAKE ON THE STATE OF PLAY AT TOWN
GRIMSBY Town fan Allan Ogle on why the future looks bright for Grimsby Town...
It’s hard work being a football fan, more so in pandemic times.
Lots of people rely on being in a football s tadium, especially their own every other weekend. There are those fortunate few who will also tour the country following their team every week. That sense of belonging, time with friends and family, emotions of winning and losing and watching ‘one of our own’ is there for us all.
There’s been outrage lately about six of the elite clubs wanting to join a European Super League. There’s been clubs (Liverpool/Leeds) who have achieved something a generation of their fans haven’t witnessed and they couldn’t be there to celebrate with their team. Then there’s my club, Grimsby Town, who got relegated out of the football league and we couldn’t be there to grieve. It last happened in 2010 and took several failed play-off defeats before finally returning to the Football League in 2016, for family reasons one of the greatest days of my life.
We also suffered double relegation in 2002/4 and I have vague memories of the 96/97 relegation. We don’t win many games, which makes the emotion and passion even more broad when we do and, at times, the mood of the weekend depends on a positive result. This is a club that was top of the Championship (then Division One) when England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich 20 years ago. Since then we’ve witnessed incredible transformations and infrastructure changes at clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth, Rotherham and Hull over the past two decades - clubs who have capitalised on commercial opportunity and grown their audiences adapting to modern day football.
Even in more recent times, just seven years ago, we finished above Luton - who now sit in the top half of the Championship. Our team is now preparing to face Weymouth and Boreham Wood instead of the likes of Birmingham City.
I thought this would be a prolonged summer of pain after the relegation (and preparing for an inevitable heartbreak with England at the Euros) - but it actually turned into a release of optimism with the long-awaited news of the acquisition of Grimsby Town Football Club. An extraordinary press conference with two leaders desperate to install a culture and standards to give a large local community a football club to be proud of and become more attractive to sponsors, investors and ultimately if we are to make it back up the leagues - quality players.
Optimism is a dangerous word in football. Many clubs, including our own, will have dared to be optimistic and ended up more disappointed than a porcupine meeting a pineapple. But this just seems different. The club has been bought with cash, not loans. The owners are passionate fans sharing stories from the terraces in the 70s and culture and standards appear to be top of the agenda. Fan engagement has dominated their first impression and fans can look forward to a survey to help contribute towards the early directions the new era takes.
I’ve been a football fan for over 30 years and I can’t help but get over-enthusiastic on any football news from the style of stitching on the shirt to who wears it.
We can now truly say that the club is in unprecedented times because we have good leaders, which I say confidently as I am studying a Masters in Senior Leadership myself. Having said that I was thrilled Ian Holloway joined us and happily chanted his name on many terraces and look how that turned out!
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a level of optimism, certainly off the pitch. Here’s to hoping the club and the community benefit from its future achievements. Personally, I’m extremely eager to move on from our negative chapter we’ve all suffered. Managing a children’s charity as the day job I’m constantly fighting for poverty and mental health.
My eagerness to encourage others to move on is to help with the latter having seen the devastating impact of the pandemic on our vulnerable but just as worrying, those we wouldn’t normally worry about too.
I have come to realise it may be more difficult for some than others, and even some fans will approach this new chapter with caution because we’ve been burned before - will we learn our lessons of the past?
We all know well enough it’s impossible to please everybody and opinions will differ on and off the pitch.
I personally think it’ll be a bumpy ride, but I’m looking forward to the club reaching more and new fans in the community. My gut instinct says we’ve got the right people to help make that happen, as their early pledges have the fans and community at the forefront. Good luck to Paul Hurst and his team in the off-season with recruitment, pre-season planning and ‘daily improvements’ to help him deliver what he wants to achieve. Thank you to Jason and Andrew for your early transparency and your investment which has lifted spirits significantly at a time when we needed it most. Weymouth has a train station, right?
See you next season!