The Writing is On The Wall Says LL

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 22/10/2001

WITH a long run of defeats and no signs that things are getting better and manager Lennie Lawrence stating that the Grimsby Town side are not equipped to fight a relegation battle, these are perilous times for the Mariners.

Lawrence told the Grimsby Telegraph that "he had reached a new low and bemoaned a mystery fear factor that is running through his side."

"In the year or so I've been here I can't remember a more lacklustre performance. The players seemed bereft of confidence, nervous, apprehensive and fearful even though they were playing at home in front of five or 6,000 people."

"The fans here aren't hostile and they're reasonably supportive and yet we go out there seemingly frightened to death. It's going to be a long, hard winter if that's the sort of performance we are going to put in at home."

"The young players are not as well-equipped as last year's team to fight a relegation battle. But we've got what we've got and we are deep in a relegation battle, make no mistake about that."

"There's no point slaughtering them because most of them have to go out and play at Man City. We got a clean sheet at Liverpool of all places and we don't look remotely like getting one at home. It's the lowest I've been since I've been here. We have to snap out of it and I have to take the responsibility."

"Blame who you like. I'm the easy target but we all have to put it right. We have to roll our sleeves up and get out of it."

"We haven't kicked a ball since that Cup game. Many clubs have suffered the after-effects of a Cup run and we are certainly following that trend."

"Every week we play against better players, on paper, and my job is to make the team overcome that. We are not managing to do that full stop."

"We went to Liverpool and did well and we have to come up with a gameplan for Man City. Three or four of them are trying but they need to come out. The trouble is that they can't. To say they are struggling would be the understatement of the year so far."

"If we go there and give a decent performance it might help us but what we don't want is a humiliation."

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