Farewell John Oster! (Latest Reports)

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 30/03/2003

It is doubtful whether anyone was surprised by John Oster's decision not to accept the offer to sign for Grimsby Town as Town's position was the major factor in his decision not to sign.

Paul Groves made a last minute bid to get his signature but to no avail. The die was cast probably even before Oster made his last appearance for the Mariners.

Mariners Net quoted Groves as saying; "I spoke to John after I had been given the funds to meet with his demands. He was actually training with the Welsh squad at The Millennium Stadium, so we had to wait to speak to him."

"In the end it boiled down to status - John did not want to come here because of the risk of the club going down into the Second Division."

Quite naturally the Mariners fans will be deeply disappointed with John's decision but he served us well and all that is left is to acknowledge the valuable contribution he has made and to wish him every success in the future.

Unfortunately, John's decision stymied the move of Des Hamilton to Blundell Park as the Mariners have now used all their loan allocation. But Paul Groves did reach agreement with Portsmouth who have allowed Richard Hughes to stay another month.

Michael Keane has also joined the club on loan until the end of season, from Preston, so Town may not be as badly off as first mooted.

Who knows? Maybe the much-maligned Terry Cooke will get a start.

Latest Reports

Today, the Grimsby Telegraph quoted Paul Groves who said; "We managed to raise the funds late in the day and met the package that John is on. But he took the decision that he didn't want to run the risk of being in the second division."

"That's a blow. Everybody had finally pulled together to get the package together to try and entice him to come.

"There was an 18-month contract on the table that matched his existing deal and the money side of things was not a problem in the end.

"We felt he'd come and he'd said he wanted to and had gone on record saying that. He'd done particularly well in the time he'd been here for three months. He knew the area and the fans loved him.

"But we have to respect the decision that he has made and what he felt was right. It's disappointing from our point of view because we'd made a massive effort to get someone of that quality."

"Everybody worked extremely hard to make it happen yesterday."

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