Paul Hurst is the right man to take Grimsby Town forward and finish what he started under new owners
ITS NOT BEEN A SEASON TO SAVOUR FOR MARINERS FANS
YOU know a season is dragging when even the manager is saying he can’t wait for it to be over.
The 2020/21 campaign is one that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, mostly because there’s very little in the way of happy m memories to be gleaned from it. Barring a remarkable late, great escape, it seems as though it’s going to end with a return to nonleague – and while Paul Hurst has to c continue putting on a brave face and insisting his side will carry on fighting, even he seems to be r resigned to the idea that the M Mariners will be playing in the
National League next season. The Town boss sounded genuinely hurt when speaking after Saturday’s damaging defeat to Bradford. Yes, he’d just seen all his best laid plans thrown in the bin by Stefan Payne’s moment of madness, but it’s the wider picture at the club that has left Hurst pining for the opportunity to hit the big reset button this summer.
When he left the club back in 2016, just a few months after bringing them back to the EFL, he had created the foundations on which the Mariners should have been able to build upon and continue their steady ascent back to where they belong.
Just over four years later, Hurst arrived back to find that very little had been added to those foundations. His comments that not a lot had changed – although lighthearted at the time – tell you everything you need to know now. And it’s not just a question of onfield matters or the playing squad. The club has been left behind in all sorts of ways by their rivals, and even some of those working their
way up from non-league who, not too o long ago, would have dreamed of being on the same level as the Mariners – now they’ve quickly overtaken them.
A stadium falling into ruin, a training ground that is rendered virtually useless during the winter, facilities in dire need of an upgrade – the club needs turning round from top to bottom, and thankfully it looks as though it will finally get that.
Will 1878 Partners be able to fix things overnight? No, no-one could. But the change in dynamic is what Town has been crying out for as Jason n Stockwood and Andrew Pettit get ready to take control that needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. Everything about their background d points towards them being able to do o that off the field at the very least. Whether it translates to on it remains to be seen, but Hurst can at least be comforted in knowing that his ideas will be heard.
Five years ago, they weren’t, and the Town boss decided to look elsewhere. Some might question whether r he should be back in charge, arguing the need for a fresh start across the board.
But this is finally the opportunity he should have been given all those years ago. To finish what he’d begun building. No-one knows more about the changes needed at Grimsby Town, and so whatever league they find themselves in next season, he should be given that opportunity to make those changes.