League Two Form Guide

		P	GD	Pts
1	MK Dons	6	+7	15
2	Port Vale	6	+5	15
3	Crewe	6	+5	12
4	Cheltenham	6	+2	11
5	Grimsby	6	-2	10
6	Accrington Stanley	6	+3	9
7	Walsall	6	+1	9
8	Salford	6	+1	9
9	Doncaster	6	+1	9
10	Notts County	6	0	9
11	Chesterfield	6	+2	8
12	Bradford	6	+1	8
13	AFC Wimbledon	6	+2	7
14	Bromley	6	0	7
15	Harrogate Town	6	-1	7
16	Fleetwood Town	6	-2	6
17	Tranmere	6	-4	6
18	Morecambe	6	-7	6
19	Swindon	6	-3	5
20	Newport County	6	-3	5
21	Carlisle	6	-6	5
22	Colchester	6	-2	4
23	Gillingham	6	-5	4
24	Barrow	6	-4	3

Full Form Table
Prem|Champ|L1|NL|VN|VS
SPL|SC|S1|S2

Question of the Week

Is football a business or a sport?

Take a Good Look at Grimsby!

By: John Pakey
Date: 04/12/2001

LOOK at Grimsby itself and you can see the future for the club. My mates use to live in Grimsby, then over a year ago they went to Tenerife for a two week holiday, and they haven't come back.

HomeÂ >Â FeaturesÂ >Â Take a Good Look at Grimsby

No disrespect to Grimsby, but economically it hasn't got much going for it. It needs some serious regeneration, or needs something to be the centre point for the town.

The biggest problem with Grimsby is it has no central industry after the end of the fish industry, and it's location on the end of North East Lincolnshire means that it's much like my village back home in Essex, one road in and that's it. Grimsby is not on the way to anywhere but the North Sea.

It's difficult to see the potential for redevelopment in Grimsby, just because of where its placed. Unless post industrial revolution towns suddenly became a major tourist attraction then there is nothing.

It's just a shame, the town was built up around the dying secondary industry sector (industry, manufacturing), and therefore it's unable to support itself now as that sector is dying out in this country. Grimsby would be a perfect case study for Geography students (but I stopped studying that years ago) of how a town needs to be in an apt location to thrive and develop. It was at one point and that was evident with the fishing industry in the 30's providing income during a very fragile time. However now after it saw through that depression it has not been able to face the challenges of the new developments simply because it's not in the right area.

Grimsby would have been an ideal place for the development of electronic industry as it has a major port and also an airport providing good trade junctions, however (there are plenty of those in this diatribe I'm afraid), that industry is also dying (remember the recent developments in Scotland with Ericsson?) so it missed it's chance. Places like Grimsby need huge support from the Government to being new industries into the town. Take Derby for example, the recent development of the Nissan factory in the town has brought new prosperity for a town which had (like Grimsby) been reliant on one industry, in Derby's case textiles. The Nissan factory came to Derby because the Government would grant Nissan money from the European Union if it was placed there. So Nissan took up that opportunity.

The position Grimsby is in is a very difficult one. It is a town which at one time was prosperous and helped the country as a whole. However now it isn't and I find it somewhat upsetting to think that the town has been neglected by the Government which has helped places like Derby, Swindon and Sunderland.

To see the football club doing so well is fantastic. However how long this can last is so questionable. Although some people disagree (like my Dad "Get a better team first!") that a new ground is not the answer, it is obvious that it is. And it doesn't matter how swish it is, how many seats it has, it's the location. Much like how the actual town itself is not prospering because of its geographical position, the football team is in the same predicament. If the ground of the club is relocated to a more appropriate place then it would without doubt prosper.

I say this because at the moment trying to get to Blundell Park is somewhat of a nightmare by public transport. I don't work Saturdays at the moment, and I'd love to go to every home game that I could, but such is the trip (I know your accusing me of being lazy and your going to quote a number of bus numbers, train times and the sort), the wonderfully unmarked bus stops at Freshney Place, the nice walk from Cleethorpes Station with the away fans (who with the case of Watford, outnumbered me and had plenty to gloat about) is not easy for people going there for the first time. The ground needs moving, there needs to be a holt very close to the ground so that you can attract fans from the outlying area.

It's all about location and access. Two things, which if thought about brings prosperity. Although Grimsby can't up and move, the club can, and it should.

As for the town itself, I personally can't think of any possible developments, but then I have not seen enough of the place or know enough to say anything. Maybe some people have some ideas for redevelopment, but unless a big company is persuaded to move there by the Government then things aren't going to be that rosy.

At least it will always have good fish and chips.

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League Two Form Guide

Question of the Week

Take a Good Look at Grimsby!

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