Cod Almighty | Diary

"It does feel like a little bit of the heart has gone out of the club"

15 May 2017

Nurse Diary writes: One year ago today was magical. There are no two ways about it and at some point today every single one of us will be thinking about it. After the disappointment of the year before we didn't really know what to expect as we sat in the Torch. The atmosphere in that pub was just incredible. I think I only saw one Forest Green fan walk past; the day was always going to belong to us. It was written.

From the moment Omar put us ahead I knew; I had no doubt, no fear, no nerves, just tears of happiness. We were doing this. It was our time. The second goal sparked celebrations at half time that I can still remember so clearly, bouncing, singing, beer being thrown. No-one cared, we all knew, we were in it together with a squad who cared as much as we did.

And then Nathan Arnold. There are no words to describe that moment, and I still can't watch him score that goal without a lump in my throat, goosebumps and a tear in my eye. We did it, we were back, and every one of those players felt it too. The togetherness between the fans and that squad was something else. The team spirit in that team was without question the best we'd had in a squad for longer than our non-League years.

So I imagine today, a whole year on, we'll all be watching the clips (All That And a Bag of Chips has done a particularly good job of it), looking over photos, remembering that moment... and wondering what the hell happened this season.

I probably wasn't alone in being surprised at the ruthlessness shown in dismantling the promotion squad. As a fan I had worried about losing the core of our squad if we didn't win promotion – not if we did! We lost some big players in Pádraig Amond and Nathan Arnold, Toto moved on to Hartlepool, and the rebuild to compete in the League began.

In came players like Summerfield, Bolarinwa, Andrew and Mills. The latter two certainly impressed and as the season started we competed fairly competently, got some good results and were holding our own. Omar was a player reborn now he was the main man, and it all felt OK. After a convincing Luton away we began to think well, could we... making the play-offs at the first time of asking would be immense. Then came the departure of Paul Hurst and the arrival of Marcus Bignot.

It started OK. Plymouth away was a great performance, to be fair: solid, worthy of the win. Confidence was high, we dared to dream. But with comings and goings in the transfer window and the constant chopping and changing of the starting 11, whispers of unrest began to circle; none more so than when Henderson replaced Jimmy Mack between the sticks. The togetherness of the squad that took us back to the League was visibly disappearing before our eyes. Fans' unrest at certain results, the treatment of players, the cringing moments of interviews from MB meant the closeness just wasn't there any more. Players brought in didn't seem to be better than we had, or had had. Fans were getting frustrated and using social media after games was like walking a tightrope.

It was probably the timing of the Bignot sacking that surprised me more than anything else. A week before, after a dicking at home, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid – but it actually came after a cracking away win and weekend in sunny Blackpool. We've never really been told the ins and outs of the decision, but that's something we Grimsby fans constantly seem to have issues with. Russell Slade's return had the fans at odds, but the players seemed happier: Diz was brought back into the fold, Gowling was allowed to return to first-team training, and the players looked notably happier in their body language.

Operation Promotion was a great success because it was done together, and that togetherness it created ran through the season. It can't just be me that is reflecting that how we feel today is just a million more miles apart than we ever could have expected

So we finished a very inconsistent season having had three managers, enough midfielders to field a starting 11 from, and the imminent knowledge that we had probably said farewell to legend and skipper Craig Disley. So out of that team that one year ago gave us the most glorious and fond memories we have only James McKeown and Shaun Pearson really left, assuming Pearson does sign a new contract.

I certainly don't feel as close to the team that finished the season this year, and it does feel like a little bit of the heart has gone out of the club.

The club, unsurprisingly – even in the face of such huge opposition by fans – didn't vote the way we hoped against hope that they would in the symbolic Football League Trophy debacle. That would have been a perfect opportunity to reunite the club a little with the fans, to show that they had learnt and listened to us when the majority of us voted with our feet for the fixtures. But no. And yet again, we weren't told for a fair few days how they'd voted, even though I guess we all kind of knew.

This has caused a bit of unrest among fans on social media about the effectiveness of the Mariners Trust, and how they are representing the fans in the boardroom. I feel the loss of Dave Roberts has been a big one for the trust. While not knocking anyone personally, the trust is not there purely to raise funds for the club when the club can't be bothered to do it for itself. I want a trust that is open and communicates clearly with the fans. I want a trust that is openly representing the fans' views, and being the voice for us that it's meant to be; a trust that's on the side of the fans, and isn’t afraid to stand up and be counted when it matters; and a trust that isn't there just to be another 'yes boy' for our non-chairman.

Operation Promotion was a great success, but not just because of the trust but because we, the fans, bought into it. We all believed in it, it was done together, and that togetherness it created ran through the season. So it can't just be me who is today remembering the amazing emotions of watching us return to the League a whole year ago, and reflecting that how we feel today is just a million more miles apart than we ever could have expected.

Happy promotion anniversary. It is memories like that that carry us through testing times like now.

UTM