Crane Talks About Why He Signed!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 10/06/2003

TONY Crane pledged to help lift Grimsby Town back into the First Division after becoming Blundell Park's first arrival of the summer, revealing that that Groves' burning ambition to launch a promotion push sealed the deal.

The Grimsby Telegraph said today that Crane spurned the chance of a new Owls contract to head for the east coast.

"When I spoke to Paul he told me about how progressive they want to be and that they want to bounce straight back up. That sealed the deal to be honest. Paul and Graham Rodger were really honest about what they wanted and told me they thought I am a good player."

"They say I could come and do a job and I appreciated their honesty. I want to come and nail down a first team spot and try and get the team back into the first division."

"I spoke to Chris Turner at Wednesday on a few occasions but we didn't get anywhere even though they wanted me to stay. But I'd been there a long time and it got stale towards the end. I needed a new start and a new challenge."

Groves has been tracking Crane since taking over as Town boss 18 months ago said the Telegraph and, with number two Rodger, has been actively pursuing the deal for the past month.

Terms were finally agreed at a hotel in Coventry last week when Groves broke off from a managers' course at Warwick University to hold secret talks.

"I don't think we'll get beaten in the air very often! I'm strong and aggressive and that's most of my game. When I played at Grimsby last season we got turned over quite comfortably, it was 2-0, and I was impressed with the way Grimsby played," said Crane.

"At Sheffield Wednesday I was on the bench and waiting and waiting to get a first-team chance. When I did it felt like you got pushed out again by the big earners."

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