Cod Almighty | Diary
A loyalty scheme for loyal supporters?
24 January 2020
It's the Friday before we play Crawley away and Casual Diary sits in the park and ride at Meadowhall, ready to board the train for Brighton for pre-match entertainment with the usual suspects.
The Holloway effect continues apace with the gaffer this week visiting local schools to further promote GTFC. His one-man mission to reconnect Town with its fanbase and make it once again a hub of the community is to be applauded.
Exiled Mariner plays away day bingo, ticking off phrases he knows I will use on a trip. One of these is to mention 1972. I make no apologies for citing my favourite season as a Town fan often, and there is no doubt that Holloway has had an effect reminiscent of the great Lawrie himself. The last manager to get the town, it's people and it's pride in the same way previously was someone often overlooked when people speak of Grimsby Town legends: George Kerr.
The Holloway effect matters. The fact that last week's gate was 6,000 - with not a moaner to be heard - is testament to it. I have no doubt that had our major shareholder opted to leave things as they were we would not have taken 1,400 to our last two away games nor had 11,000 through the home turnstiles. Without Holloway I would have expected 350 away fans tomorrow: the usual 200 who go everywhere bolstered by around 150 south-east-based fans and their spouses, kids or friends dragged along. With Holloway there will be double that at least.
Holloway has made no difference to my plans. We had already decided to do Brighton before Crawley, after a disappointing London trip before Stevenage. The overnight stay is on Friday, not Saturday, based on the likelihood at the time that we'd lose. It minimised the time my fellow travellers would have had to spend with a post-loss, lairy, Peroni-fuelled manic depressive.
The Holloway effect is fantastic and I love it. But it does however present me and my companions with an issue. My opinion on the major shareholder's tenure at Blundell Park has been aired before. Suffice to say that the appointment of Holloway in no way takes away the 15 years of hurt we've endured or make John Fenty a good owner. I give credit where it's due and applaud the decision, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.
At the beginning of the season we took a principled decision not to renew our season tickets until his tenure ended. I have to admit - given the information I was party to and the clear conflict of interest in him remaining as major shareholder given his position on the council - that I expected to renew in August. Had he not appointed Holloway and taken, let's say, a more fiscally safe option, I was going to boycott Blundell Park altogether and travel only to away games. I saw no alternatives.
Post-Holloway, and with no season ticket, here is my issue. With Bradford and Scunthorpe looming and extremely likely to sell out, I will be ticketless. Despite the fact I haven't missed a game home or away so far this sason, and having got as far as Tiverton Parkway before the game with Plymouth was postponed, we face missing arguably the two biggest awaydays of the campaign.
No doubt there will be a certain sniggering among the "if it wasn't for John" brigade. And there will also be those who say just buy a half season ticket, but the principle remains. Past failures have not been expunged by the appontment of Holloway and it would be hypocrisy to go back on my decision because the club's fortunes on the pitch and an inspirational gaffer have led to a surge of support.
I'm sure we can't be alone among the core 200 fans who turn up everywhere in not having a season ticket. It is clearly too late for this season but I will suggest for next, via the Mariners Trust, that the club sets up a loyalty scheme to reward those who journey week in week out, win or lose. It seems ridiculous to be advocating a loyalty pool for a bottom-tier club lying in the bottom half of the division but that is the measure of the Holloway effect.
Don't moan and enjoy the game tomorrow. I'm off to practice my best 'Bratfut' accent and look up the West Yorkshire schools I "went to".
UTM