Cod Almighty | Diary

Close your eyes and then open them again

6 September 2018

It's early evening and you're driving into Grimsby along the A180. As you reach the brow of Westgate, directly above where the River Freshney pours into Alexandra Dock, you glance left and admire the illuminated Dock Tower, like a pin dropped from high above into the landscape, which simply says 'home'. To the right is a busier-than-normal Alexandra retail park and then, just beyond the Burger King sign (another place that's heaving), you catch your first glimpse of it.

The floodlights are on. The streets are busy. Cars converge and atmosphere builds as you take the second exit and move bumper to bumper over the Flyover. Down to your right, Grimsby Docks station is bustling, as if a fleet of trawlers has just returned to port. A train's just dropped off a few hundred people. Radios are on. Shops are open. You can hear people chanting above all the engines. You can see each breath as it rises against the crisp, starry sky. Scarves are being waved. Horns are being tooted. Traffic is directed to the left and, from there, fans cross Riby Square and congregate in the pubs at the top of Freeman Street.

The town is alive and Town are playing in their new community stadium. It's nothing too extravagant; 12,000 seats, but almost all will be filled for tonight's 7:45pm kick-off. Six thousand seats are black, six thousand are white. Cigarette card-style murals of Master Mariners stand proudly above the turnstiles to invite you in. As you ease your way through to the concourse, you take in the sweet smell of vinegar being splashed on fish caught earlier that day as fans queue for their pre-match meal. Pints are being supped; fans stand in open bars adorned with images of Town's proudest days.

In the stands, fans talk feverishly about the game ahead. The players warm up on the pitch while the crowd whips up a passionate atmosphere in the deliberate absence of music. Harry Haddocks are being waved throughout. It's intense and the opposition don't look comfortable. In fact, they seem intimidated by the noise 12,000 Mariners are creating under the floodlights. This part of town hasn't heard this much noise since the docks were operating at their peak.

This is exciting. This is Town. This is home.

The only place I see a new stadium is in the very same place that drove this town's prosperity for many decades. Location is everything. Build it and they will come? Try telling that to Darlington fans

And then your West Yorkshire Diary usually wakes up. It's a disappointing moment when I realise all I saw and felt was false. Fantastic… but false.

For some reason I don't ever have this dream about Peaks Parkway. I'm totally unable to visualise it. To be honest, I've hardly ever ventured down that way because I've never had cause to go there. In my mind at least, Peaks Parkway isn't part of the town. It's the edge of town; an area that feels unfamiliar and cold.

Freeman Street and the docks, on the other hand, while desolate and neglected today, feel like the very heart of Grimsby. It could be great again if it had new life breathed into it.

I won't bore people with my opinion (which generally tallies with the many fans who contributed to a recent 25-page thread on the Fishy), but the only place I see a new stadium is in the very same place that drove this town's prosperity for many decades. Location is everything. Build it and they will come? Try telling that to Darlington fans.

I dunno. I just feel like a new stadium could be amazing, you know? Truly amazing. Inspirational. Not everyone in North East Lincolnshire supports the Mariners or even likes football, but place a piece of architectural brilliance which captures the spirit of its townsfolk slap bang in the middle of the community and it'll feel truly ownable, and 'us'. It's the masterstroke that this council (and this majority shareholder) could be remembered for. The reinvigoration of Grimsby.

Meanwhile, there was a nice win in that silly little trophy tournament the other night, but we're still just a fourth division club meandering along. In Michael Jolley we at least appear to have a manager with an appetite to build something on the pitch. It requires planning, vision and an understanding of what the fans would like to see. It's early days but it does feel like he's got the foundations in the right place. Like any new stadium, this progress on the pitch might take a couple of years to come to fruition, but I'm willing to wait.