Go, in the Name of Cod, Go!

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 16/12/2001

THE SUPPORTERS of Grimsby Town have had enough. Many are planning a demonstration to be staged at the next home match against Coventry to protest at the GTFC board and manager Lennie Lawrence, who are allowing the club to die before our eyes.

The stranglehold which the GTFC shareholders, both in and out of the boardroom, hold over the club is crippling it, and stopping our football team from ever reaching anywhere near its full potential. To allow those currently in charge of the club, both inside the boardroom and on the training pitch, to continue will result in one thing - relegation and bankruptcy, probably both at the same time in May.

Therefore to allow things to carry on as they are we face oblivion, and it is for this reason that for many supporters Saturday's 4-0 defeat by Walsall and the failure to obtain the services of Marlon Broomes (who instead moved to one of our relegation rivals on a free transfer) earlier this week were the final straw.

Please post your views on the MB and if you care about the club, make your way to Blundell Park on Boxing Day with a red card in hand to demand the resignation of the GTFC board and Grimsby manager Lennie Lawrence. Who or what are to replace them and what lies ahead for the Mariners we do not yet know, but it has become clear to many that if things are allowed to continue as they are much longer our beloved football club will face ruin and cease to exist.

Up the Mariners!

Below is a selection of postings on the Message Board. Please post your views on the forum and attend the Coventry game on Boxing Day.

Today by diehardmariner

That has to be the worst performance I've ever seen. In fact the only one that comes remotely close is the defeat against (surprise, surprise) Walsall 2 years ago.

Every player with the exception of Raven was s**t, no actually Thompson looked dangerous when he came on. Coyne made a few great saves but his kicking was woeful. I know that a few people have said that we wouldn't have got hammered if Broomes had played, we would have. Broomes would have played instead of Raven and honest to god Raven put in a fantastic performance. Had Broomes partnered Raven then maybe not but 2 players Vs a whole team is a big task.

LL has got to go, the team are not playing for him and once again he left himself with a crap bench. What is the point of having Chappy AND Smith on the bench, they play in exactly the same position (left back/ left wing). We had a great chance to level the game when we had an indirect free kick but Menno fell over and it trickled towards the wall. Who the hell made him set pieces expert. One lucky goal against Preston and he's like a guru on free kicks.

Once again the players (except Coyne and Nielson) refused to applaud the fans for their efforts. OK so the crowd got on their back a bit but they deserved it, then again its not as if it costs to watch Town or anything is it?????

Worse thing is that Walsall looked s**t just that we looked like a Sunday league team (actually that's not fair on the lads who play on Bradley pitches etc).

Furneux, Ramsden, where do I start?! by Marinerdeano

You two disgrace me. Never in my life have I seen such upmost incompetence. Mr. Furneaux, never in my life have I heard you say anything remotely positive to raise the spirits of GTFC let alone actually make any positive moves. What have you done to the club to make us turn down necessary players? The previous board of directors (under Bill Carr) never turned down any propositions for new players. That is a fact, trust me. Mr. Furneaux and co. you are instigating a spiral of decline at our football club, enhancing the negativity and stigma already attached to the place.

You continue to go on about this share issue. Oh yes it will really finance the new stadium and Marlon Broomes but it will ultimately put power-freak Dudley Ramsden in complete control, and we all know what he did to the club in the 1980's. Mr. Ramsden, why are you hiding behind this facade of 'friends'? Do I detect a bit of cowardice?

No wonder Lennie is pulling his remaining hair out. What he thinks about this bunch deep down, God only knows. What can he do? How many loans have we left? Mr. Ramsden if you care (I won't hold my breath), you should see it as you duty to heavily invest in this club. If not, now is the time to get out, you've played with your toy and had your fun.

Finally, to the fans, keep supporting the Mariners because they need this most to fight against the future challenge. If we give up now, then we are resigning ourselves to defeat and defeatist attitudes are just too common around here.

Lennie must.... by The_Fish

not be sacked. I wouldn't blame him for resigning, but its not his fault the board stop him bringing any quality players here. He might be a bit tactically inept but what are the other options? Cockerill has eyes, he wont take it, Wilkinson maybe, but what has he got to offer that Lawrence hasn't? If Broomes was still a Mariner I'd bet my life on it that we wouldn't have lost 4-0 today, 2-0 maximum. That tells us that we needed Broomes, but we also needed more players. A decent Right back til Macca is back, a midfielder with some flair (to replace that twat Butterfield) and a striker that *ahem* scores. Jevons won't score in a game like Today. Bungle just wont score. Rowan is still a bit lightweight, Livvo wont be back for ages and Allen is more of a support player.

We are doomed, lets face it, compare this to last season. Players were coming in left right and centre. Now the loans we have this season are either useless (Neilson) or too good to be kept (Beherall, Broomes).

Anyone notice that Beherall scored today? Shame he couldn't do that for us... maybe the board might have decided to keep him for the season then... actually no they wouldn't, we had superstar 'raves' coming back.

Grimsby Til I die.

Even in division 2.

Action Needs to be taken...now! by EvilGarlicNaanBread.

Possibly the most depressing moment in recent memory as a Town supporter. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately I was unable to make it to today's game and I had to make to with John Tondeur and co. and to be totally honest, what I heard wasn't pretty.

When you're losing 4-0 to one of only two teams below you in the league, what hope do you have? I've remained pretty reserved in the last week or so on this board as the optimist inside me does not enjoy talking about the depressing things that have arisen recently, but any little bit of optimism I may have had is now well and truly down the shi*ter.

The club is dying all around; on and off the pitch matters are about as bad as I can remember. When I was younger, I often used to drive through Boston and the York Street Ground. I took a look at what was then a hopeless lower non-league outfit, and thought just how lucky I was to have grown up in an area with a damn good football club. The way things are heading, we could well be below them in the football league within a couple of years. That is a very grim thought, and although far from a formality, it could happen.

More of a formality however is Grimsby Town in Division Two next season. The only way we can avoid this is by taking action, RIGHT NOW! We can't be like the board and leave things until it is too late.

The question is what can be done? Protests have been discussed, but arrangements would be complex, and a large proportion of the BP faithful are either too young or too old for a full-blown protest. Just because it would be planned as a 'peaceful protest', doesn't always mean that will be the case. Clubs like Coventry have staged their own protests, but those protests consisted of more people than Town's average attendance. Perhaps this is something for the drawing board in the future, but it would take time.

Anything, no matter how small, that can be done, must be done. I am willing to set-up a petition site tonight. I am a semi-pro web designer so I think I can cook up something half decent. I feel that people of any age are capable of signing that. The petition on here about the new stadium got a great response, but that still had an opposition. That was the people versus the people, whereas this is the people versus a cancer.

Surely a good enough response would edge Furneaux and co. towards the door. Obviously there needs to be someone else to fill their boots, but I am not suggesting on how that could be sorted out. We have nothing to lose, with this lot in charge, we WILL go down.

The petition can be found at www.marinersfc.f2s.com.

Add To Facebook

This site is by the fans, for the fans, and we will consider articles on any subject relating to the Mariners whether it be related to current news, a nostalgic look back in the past, a story about a player, a game or games in the past, something about Blundell Park or football in general. Click here to submit your article!

Related Stories

• A Sad Farewell Mr Lawrence!
• Why Sack The Chairman?
• None But The Rave - Walsall Report
• More Stories