Cod Almighty | Diary

Greater together

20 September 2021

Miss Guest Diary writes: My discombobulation at the way things are going for Town continues. In recent years the atmosphere at away games has far exceeded that at Blundell Park. In fact, sitting in the Pontoon has been quite depressing at times. No longer.

I have been at Blundell Park for some big games, amid some big crowds over the years but the Tuesday night game against Wrexham was far and away the greatest atmosphere I have ever experienced there. Did our spirits drop when Town went behind? No. Did we resort to insulting the opposition? No. We just kept singing and cheering and bouncing along from start to finish. Magic.

Saturday was another 6,000-plus crowd but not quite so rocking. I put that down to a lot more kids in the crowd and a lot less John McAtee on the pitch. It was still good, though.

They say you shouldn't try to deconstruct a joke because that will ruin it. Maybe looking at why things feel so good at Town at the moment risks ruining the mood, but here goes anyway. Synergy, that's my theory. Defined as an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts, it seems to fit the bill.

Taken individually, improvements at the training ground, sprinklers at Blundell Park, a fanzone, better catering, better communication with fans, owners who pledge to run the club ethically, a CEO who listens to fans concerns, a pro-active SLO, modern ticketing system and, yes, even a fitness coach are not revolutionary in the 21st century. But taken all together and in contrast to the previous regime, they have energised the club and the fans to such an extent that it really does feel like something remarkable is happening that everyone in the area, and exiles, want to be part of.

Of course, it wouldn't be Grimsby if there weren't some moans. As BOTB said on Friday, he loves a moan and he is a true Grimbarian. It put me in mind of the occasion in November 97 when we beat Southend 5-1 at Blundell Park. Frustratingly, (as we still lived down south then) we were in town that day but at a wedding. Going round to visit BOTB later that night we asked his dad to tell us about the game and his first response was "We should have scored seven."

So what are the moans? Well Friday Twitter was full of people lamenting the lack of parking near the ground when there is a big crowd. I appreciate that the solution I found – encouraging my brother to buy a house in Brereton Avenue and parking on his driveway – is not open to everyone. But, really? When we set out to stroll to the ground just after 2 o'clock on Saturday there were plenty of parking spaces available on our route. Is there actually a problem or has the diminishing crowd numbers in recent years meant people have become used to arriving 10 minutes before the game and parking in the next street? You decide.

To be fair, alongside the moans there were some helpful suggestions about park and ride and shuttle buses and using public transport. And I have every confidence that, if the larger crowds continue, Debbie and her team will be looking into ways of improving things for us fans. Not something we could even have dreamt of in the past.

To repeat my own perennial moan: still no hot water in the ladies toilets. In fact, hardly even any cold water now. There is hand sanitiser, but soap and water is better!

UTM