Cod Almighty | Postbag

A family holiday on the Isle of Write

9 June 2016

Betcha didn't expect to see a postbag so soon after the last one, huh? No, us neither. 

Rhyme and reason

In response to Nick Andrews delightful piece

DOES absence make the heart grow fonder?
Well I've been here and I've been yonder
I've watched football on the telly
From Towns that weren't as smelly...
As us.

I've seen great games with fantastic goals
From your Keegan's, Dalglish's and Andy Coles
They gave me pleasure for a bit
But non more so than when I sit..watching
Grimsby Town.

It's in the blood and not the head
It's in the heart too; an unmoveable entity that makes me black and white...
Not amber.. or claret...
Or blue.

To know ones self is to know your colour
If you truly are a fan
To feel that team a part of you
I do... I feel...
Wherever I am.

from Tony Barker

Letters Ed responds: Hey Tony, thanks for this, nicely done! Nick's piece about supporting Town in exile chimed with a good few of us.

Terry Bartlett

Hello, Hope you can help. I read about your one hit wonders and am interested to know if you have any other information or pictures of Terence Bartlett in the 1968 game against Tranmere.

If you are unable to help maybe you could point me in the right direction to someone that could maybe help. I know very little about football so I have no idea where to look for such things.

from Barbara Ann Scott

Letters Ed responds: We replied to Barbara Ann with all we knew which was basically the entry in Rob Briggs and Dave Wherry's excellent reference book Mariner Men: Grimsby Town Who's Who 1892-2007. If you know more or actually are Terence then if you get in touch we will gladly pass on your details.

A game of two halves

What great lyrics & all too true.

My first match with my dad was 1957 and a 7–2 drubbing of Leyton Orient whilst on holiday in Costa del Cleethorpes - Rafferty, Scott Fell, Cullen Jobling, et al. Who else was a boy to support after that?
We lived in Cheshire and my visits to BP have been sporadic. However this loyal anorak has visited most grounds in the north west following My Team.

You name it, I have even been to such outposts as Rhyl and Runcorn. Have the Mariners ever played at Old Trafford in the last 60 years? They have and I was there. Knee-deep in the Man Utd and Liverpool enclaves this loyalty has often met with derision but I have always remained steadfast.

I was euphoric after the Forest Green display only to be left totally ashamed after the FA Trophy non–event. I could not believe the excuse that these full time professionals had and were allowed to party though the week
and couldn't be bothered to put on a show for the fans (chucking away an extra £25k in prize money to boot) for those who had also raised £125K for the promotion push.

from John Hannath

Letters Ed responds: Grant's rewriting of a Billy Joel lyric has been very popular and even inspired our Irish correspondent, Wicklow Diary to get in on the act with his take on We Didn't Start The Fire. There have been a few pieces about supporting Town from afar recently and each has given rise to a Disley-esque 'something in my eye' moment. The playoff win has left us with emotions still firmly on our sleeves and it doesn't take much more than the mention of a former player or a street we used to walk down on our ways to school and it sets us off again. It's a lovely thing though, no?

Not such a lovely thing was the performance against at Halifax. Whatever the reason, the team just didn't fire with the same urgency they had displayed the week before. We move on and put it behind us.

Are you sure? Yes, I'm AdamAnt

Another great diary today. I saw Adam Ant perform his Kings of the Wild Frontier album (& more!) at Hull City Hall last Sunday, exactly two weeks after I saw Town win promotion at Wembley. Coincidence? Don't be stupid!

from David Miller

Letters Ed responds: You're right David, there's no way either of those events could have taken place without the other. It's like the planets aligning.

Ill-informed oiks

I was on the train the other day traveling from Leicester to Grimsby and I happened to overhear a couple of football fans discussing Grimsby Town. One of the lads piped up that he was hoping to travel to one of Town's home games by car and wanted to bring the kids along but he didnt know directions nor possess a sat nav. His mate replied, "It's easy, just follow the litter trail. It starts from Grimsby Town station and ends at the stadium gate."

from Ken Coulbeck Jnr

Letters Ed responds: This sort of thing used to bother me, Ken but now I look at it like this. These folks have either obviously never been to Grimsby or Cleethorpes or maybe only seen that shabby Sacha Baron Cohen movie. You could enlighten fellow passengers, maybe point them at that lovely Guardian article but I say no, let's keep it hush-hush. Simply report them to the British Transport Police next time this occurs. 

There you go, that's your lot until the next time and that next time will be as soon as we have a pile of correspondance to peruse so get writing. Don't feel limited to the Mariners though, drop us a line on anything, even the EU referendum. We're chuffed as nuts that you read our stuff and a letter really makes us smile. You can even chip in on Facebook or Twitter and we won't think any less of you.