I’ve been hooked on Town ever since my first home game against Blackpool in 1979/80. For the record, we won 4-3 after being 2-0 up and then 3-2 down. I think that game represents the ups and downs of being a football fan.

It was a great season to be introduced to live football as we romped to the Third Division Championship and won eighteen home league games. We also made the League Cup quarter finals, going out to winners Wolves in the second replay after beating Everton, and went out to Liverpool in the FA Cup in front of 50,000. My most treasured possession was the Town scarf I got that Christmas.

My favourite ever game remains the 4-0 hammering of pre-season favourites Sheffield United and my favourite goal was Joe Waters’ where he seemed to beat the entire Blades team before slotting in. We nicked every toilet roll from school the day before to lob on the pitch before the game. We also piled on the pitch afterwards to celebrate.

Not for the only time in my life, I was separated from my new true love by going away to University, although I really got into the away games and still managed to see most of the home games out of term time. I’d like to thank the Local Education Authority on the North Bank for kindly providing the funds for this.

I returned to Grimsby after graduating to work in a local factory and didn’t miss a home game for 2 ½ years. This was the best ever Grimsby side for me and I’m glad I was there to see it.

I’d made what, at the time, I didn’t realise would become lifelong friendships in my first stint down South. I met Rob Moss and Big Jim at London games and would bump into them as I flogged my student railcard to death each Saturday.

I went off the radar for a couple of years, having moved back to London for employment, but the club were always in my heart and anyone who met me was left in no doubt of what the club meant to me. Thankfully, I missed the two relegations of the late eighties. Mike Lyons was a terrible manager.

A change of employment in 1989 meant that I could get to more games and when it came to seeing old faces, it was as if I’d never been away. I liked that. A few more promotions followed and a large group of us were travelling to home games as the London Mariners. We also forced anyone we knew to shop in Boots where a free rail ticket voucher could be obtained for a fiver’s expenditure. This funded many away games and subsidised some inebriations which have borne some of the chants that are heard to this day.

I suffered serious illness in the mid 1990s and was too ill to travel to many home games although I continued to attend some away matches. A recurrence of illness kept me away from Town for the best part of another two seasons, and I was working many weekends as I recovered. I always had Sky Sports on the computer though to keep up with the scores.

The only game I saw between February 2000 and May 2002 was the game at Arsenal where I felt like a fraud given my previous absence. It was then that a good friend reminded me about all the effort I’d put into backing MY team and that I was as much a supporter as someone who went to every game. It is the big place in my heart for Town that defines me as a fan. Whilst I might not have been physically at games, Town were still in me and always will be.

I moved back to the North in December 2003 although I kept my job in London for another nine months. During the relegation of 2003/4, I saw 20 odd games and since then, I have had a season ticket for all but one season and go to about two thirds of away games. Despite the relative lack of success, it is great to be back. However, I don’t regard myself of more as a fan now because of this. I was never less of a fan.

Do the team frustrate me? Yes, a lot of the time. There seem to be more downs than ups. Would I have changed anything? No. What I have got from being a fan is far more than the football I’ve watched. I have many happy memories which, when everything else might be going wrong, can never be taken away from me. I have made friends of nearly thirty years standing now and made many more since. That makes me wealthy.  I’ve had lots of fun and grown through the heartbreak.

I subscribed to “It’s a Grim Exile” when I was away and have been a Trust member for a fair time. Although I’m a lifetime member now, I still put something in every month and I also decided to sponsor Woodsy, Adam Smith and Peter Lea with two friends as a way to ensure the future of my club, which I hope will be around long after I’m gone.

Being on the Trust Board won’t stop me having fun. I joined because I want to keep doing that. So if you hear any daft chants getting an airing at Darlo or Rochdale, it might be me nearby!

Chris Smith - GTST Board Member