Alan Pouton Interview

By: Jake Olley
Date: 26/03/2006

ALAN Pouton came to Blundell Park in the late Buckley era, the great man's final decent signing. Although Town were not a successful club during most of his time at BP, Pouts was a hero for most Town fans and everyone at the club was sad to see him leave.

Hi Alan it's been a while since you left Town to join Gillingham. Firstly how’s that worked out and how’s the injuries been that shortened your time gracing the Blundell Park pitch?

It hasn't worked out the best for me injury wise at Gillingham. I left Grimsby just over two years ago and I haven't played that many games, which has been frustrating. The disappointing thing is that I feel that Gillingham supporters haven't seen the best of me yet.

How would you compare both Town and Gillingham?

I think they are both very similar clubs in size and support. They are both friendly family based clubs. The supporters are very similar too; you have the die-hard fans that travel all over to watch you. The clubs are not too dissimilar and they both survive on big cup draws. It’s no secret that Grimsby were struggling a couple of seasons ago, like we are at the minute money wise. But hopefully both teams can come through it.

On the whole which manager would you say has had the biggest affect on your progression as a player?

I have played under a few managers and they have all had an effect on my game. I played under Lenny Lawrence and he has a lot of experience in football. I played under Alan Little at York City; he gave me my chance to play league football. If I had to choose one I would probably say Paul Groves. I know a lot of the supporters didn't like him when he was coming to the end of his time at Grimsby, but when I had a few discipline problems he had the know-how to pass the captaincy on to me, which gave me responsibility and calmed me down a lot. I had to look at myself and be in charge of people around me, which calmed me down a bit. He showed a lot of trust in me when people doubted that I had the discipline to be captain.

What would you say your greatest moment at Blundell Park was?

Two spring to mind; the night we played Liverpool in the Worthington Cup. They were the holders and we beat them 2-1 (Report). People said that they didn't put out a full strength side but they still played eight internationals. The other would be when I scored my first league hat trick, which was against Wimbledon when we won 6-2 (Report). It was the season when we were struggling and at one point I didn't think we would stay up. But we managed to put a great run together to avoid relegation.

Who would you say your best mates were at Town and do you still keep in touch with any of them?

I was there for about four years so a lot of players came and went. I'm good friends with Stacy Coldicott and John McDermott, we don't speak that regular but we speak now and again. I also keep in touch with Stuart Campbell who is now at Bristol Rovers. I would say my closest friend was Iain Anderson, he was only there for a season and he didn't live too far away from me. He is at St Mirren now and we are in regular contact with each other.

Do you still look out for Town's results and what did you think of the Mariners' games against Spurs and Newcastle?

Obviously I still look out for their results, I look out for the results of all my old clubs. I like to see them all do well. I have also got a lot of close friends in Grimsby who are Town fans. I missed the Spurs game but being a Newcastle fan I watched the Newcastle game. It was nice to see that Grimsby were playing football and enjoy the game.

And finally do you have a message to those fans that backed you vigorously when you had your time with town?

I would like to say good luck to them and the club; I know they are going for promotion this year and it would be nice to see them get promoted. Hopefully we will be playing them next season in League One.

We'd also like to take this chance to thank Alan Pouton who took time out from his busy schedule to do this interview for Town fans

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