There cannot be many Town supporters who can claim responsibility for getting Grimsby Town promoted, can there? OK, perhaps a few of the chairmen and obviously the local lads who have pulled on the black and white stripes over the years, but certainly not many of us mere mortals on the terraces!

I grew up between Lincoln and Sleaford and had chosen to support Town because I wanted to be different by not supporting a first division team (top flight for those who cannot remember life before the Premiership). I was definitely not supporting Lincoln as they weren’t very good and finally my family hails from the Grimsby area. With two grandparents in nursing homes in the town we came up to Grimsby once or twice a month for visits. I persuaded my dad to take me along to the theatre of dreams and nightmares that is Blundell Park - payback for me accompanying him to the nursing homes.

Cast your mind back to the 1989/90 season – I was still quite new to watching Town. We had made our usual slow start to the season under Mr Buckley and were trundling along in mid-table. My first game was at home to Halifax Town, a match which Town drew 1-1 but saw big Keith taken to hospital with head injuries.

I still had that youthful optimism - Town were the best team in the land and could still win promotion (well, mathematically at least). Dad and I carried on going to the football every other Saturday, only missing the odd game, which always seemed to coincide with Town losing. It would be another season before I first saw Town lose - oh those were the days!!

Sadly my optimism was not being turned into results on the pitch. By mid-January we had a haul of 33 points from 25 games, and losses and draws were all too common. At one quiet game my dad pointed out that Steve Sherwood was wearing a green goalkeepers top, which was unlucky. I apologise if I am now teaching you to suck eggs, but apparently fishermen would never go to sea wearing green as it was bad luck. Dad could remember a previous spell when a Town keeper had worn green and the team hadn’t done too well, until someone wrote into the Evening Telegraph to point out the whole sailors and green thing.

Well, there was no other option - I had to get Steve to change his top. So I put pen to paper and wrote to Mr. Buckley himself. When we went to the next home game (which was versus high flying Carlisle), Steve Sherwood came out to practice in a rather scabby looking yellow goalkeepers top which if memory serves me right didn’t even have a sponsors logo on it. Steve was still wearing the aforementioned yellow top when the match kicked off. Diddy Dave Gilbert scored from a free kick in front of the Pontoon, which was the only goal of the match, and Town recorded a 1-0 win.

The following Monday I received a handwritten letter from Mr. B, (see below) which had been posted on the Friday before the game. This is where my claim gains credence, as the letter read as follows:

’I remember when I first came to the club someone telling me about how fishermen would never go to sea wearing something green. To this end I’m sure you and your dad will notice that I have decided to give your idea a try!!’

The following week, York were put to the sword, 3-0 with big Keith netting for Town. Dave Gilbert and Gary Childs were running rings around defenders on the wings and putting balls across to bounce off super sub big Keith into the back of the net. Before long, Town began to cruise up the table.

A thousand travelling Burnley fans were sent packing after a 4-2 Town victory, with the run culminating in a mad March when Town recorded 7 wins in 7 games. There was a home victory against Lincoln - especially fun for me as we had taken one of my Lincoln supporting friends from school to the match. Then there was that Easter Tuesday when Scunny came en masse, only to see their promotion chances dashed by a last minute goal from Cockers. It was rather a shame that when we eventually achieved promotion it was without kicking a ball, but it did set things up nicely for a party atmosphere as we thrashed Wrexham 5-1 with Garry Birtles scoring a hat-trick.

In fact Town had gained 46 points out of a possible 63 since I had written to Mr. B, so I take full credit for Town’s promotion that season. Even better, Town also got promoted the following season, so whilst I'm at it I'll take some credit for that as well!

As the current season hasn't got off to the best of starts, perhaps someone can spot another opportunity to break a sea-faring hoodoo and get Town sailing up that league table!!

Ed Blackbourn – GTST Board Member