Cod Almighty | Diary
Ohhhh yes! You can't legislate for that!
4 January 2019
Have we mentioned much that we used to be on a par with Crystal Palace not so long ago? Back in the glory days of scraping survival in the second tier of English football, when sugar wasn't taxed and Irn Bru tasted like Irn Bru.
I was talking to a work colleague the other day and – get this – he said 2002 is, in fact, a long time ago because he was only eight years old back then and he's well old now as he's going to be an eye-watering 23 in the spring. Why do young people always try to make out they're old? Anyway, he has no real memory of Grimsby Town ever being a second division side.
Your West Yorkshire Diary was 19 in 2002 and remembers the day we beat Palace 5-2 at Blundell Park very clearly – as will many more of you, since the never-been-more-superb and never-been-newer SNOS (yes, we've rolled that one back out) jogged your memory yesterday with this article and video of the game.
Even at the time, the discrepancy between our budget and theirs was stark. They were pushing for the play-offs and promotion to the Premier League; we were fighting for our survival, in more ways than one.
The previous month we'd lost 2-0 at Watford, which had left us effectively seven points adrift of safety, given our inferior goal difference. Wins against Sheffield United and Stockport County – alongside a good draw at Forest – brought us back from the brink. Then we obliterated Palace in a first half which saw Michael Boulding weave his way through a perplexed defence to put us 2-0 up – a strike later voted goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Bradley Allen scrapped and fought to bundle home a third before the break.
The game finished 5-2, and while we hadn't quite got ourselves out of the bottom three with that terrific win, we'd gone level on points with both Crewe and Barnsley above us, and dragged Sheffield Wednesday into the mix for good measure.
It was a massive win. Later that month we won at Wolves – who were top at the time and had recently won seven on the bounce – and hammered an in-form Wimbledon 6-2 at Blundell Park. But it was that win over Palace that really turned our season around. Up until then, Town had struggled to score goals (we had been averaging less than one a game), and it established the remarkable strike partnership of Boulding and Allen. Just as vital, though, was our centre-back partnership of player/manager Paul Groves and the magnificent Andy Todd.
Todd joined Blackburn in the summer and Boulding went on to sign for Villa in his pursuit of Premier League football. Allen, despite his heroics, wasn't given a new deal in the close season – possibly as a result of the ITV Digital collapse, but also possibly as a result of the incompetence of the board. For it is they, let's not forget, who refused to offer the unproven 37-goal striker Podge Amond a two-year deal and, just weeks later, handed a three-year contract to the totally proven Tom Bolarinwa.
These are the same top aficionados who failed to fully understand the Bosman ruling in 2002 and allowed another top performer in that 5-2 victory, Danny Butterfield, to leave for absolutely nothing.
Butterfield – a vastly underrated player in his time at Grimsby (and often first to get it in the neck from our small but vociferous section of impatient fans) – set up three goals that day. I'm in no doubt that it was on the strength of this performance that he caught the eye of the Eagles, and he headed to Selhurst Park that summer, where he went on to make over 250 appearances and scored what has been described as "the least likely hat-trick in English football history".
There’s a nice little interview with Danny in which he offers a bit more detail about that incredible feat. Sadly, he's reminiscing about it while on the payroll of Bastard Franchise Scum FC, where he's currently a first-team coach.
Our FA Cup run that season wasn't so memorable. A home draw to fourth division York should've offered an easy passage into the fourth round but, with Paul Groves still finding his managerial feet, we ground to a 0-0 halt at home and lost the replay at Bootham Crescent 1-0 in what was a pretty horrible performance.
Well, it looks like we'll be taking more fans down to the capital for an awkward kick-off time than we managed to attract to our home match against Mansfield on new year's day. Crystal Palace might not have been the glamorous top-flight side we were hoping to draw but, clearly, the fixture has captured the imagination of the fans. And the incredible following has no doubt been boosted by our recent run of good form, which has dragged us away from any immediate threat of relegation and closer to the play-offs.
These are much more relaxed times at Grimsby Town FC and, as a result, it's a totally free shot at an upset. I don't think there's one person in this town who honestly believes we'll overturn the 67-place deficit in the league ladder and return victorious. No expectations, no pressure.
I guess the best we can hope for is that the spirit of Exeter gets us through the game and keeps us in the hat for the fourth round draw, and then we get another shot – and another decent payday – at beating Palace in a replay at Blundell Park.
It's also another valuable experience for what is a relatively young side. They'll give it their best shot. And a member of the squad who'll be doing just that is 22-year-old Harry Cardwell, who yesterday signed a year’s extension to his existing contract.
That small but vociferous section of impatient fans may question whether he’s shown enough to justify the extension, but the reality is that the fans see just a small proportion of what really matters. Cardwell is relatively local, having grown up just the other side of the Humber, and has scored at international level. He's still looking to forge a career in professional football. And in Michael Jolley we have a manager who is actively looking to give the Cardwells of this shallow and superficial football world a chance – and not leave them on the summer scrapheap, which is where he would've no doubt ended up under our previous manager (ironically, the one who signed him).
Jolley, don’t forget, is a young manager himself, and he’s forged his own path into football management by coaching young kids. He knows what traits he needs and values in a young player. If he sees all the attributes he’s looking for in Cardwell, who are we to argue?
Of the team that’s likely to take the field against Palace on Saturday evening, only McKeown, Pringle and Thomas were born in the 80s. When Dave Smith knocked in Town’s fifth that day against Palace on 2 March 2002, Cardwell was five years old. Harry Clifton was just three.
They won’t remember that day – and they don't need to. This is a club that, after years of turmoil, finally appears to be looking forwards. And maybe upwards. They can begin writing their own history. Perhaps we'll look back on tomorrow's scarf-waving at Selhurst Park just as fondly as we look back on 1989's invasion of Harry Haddocks at Plough Lane.
To the thousands making the monumental effort to attend tomorrow's cup tie: give these young players the support they both need and deserve. Swing your scarf. Sing yourself silly. Shout yourself hoarse. And enjoy the bloody match!
UTM!