Despite one of my first away trips to watch Town away from BP being a game at Sincil Bank in the 1989/90 promotion season (I remember it cost about £3 for a match ticket and bus fare!), it’s only in the last few years, whilst we’ve been having our extended stay in the bottom division, that I’ve really started to think of Lincoln City as a real rival.
It was during a game at Lincoln when Russell Slade gave the orange bloke from across the water the idea of holding team talks on the pitch that I realised how deep the rivalry was. I’d seen Town get beaten at away games many times before but, for some reason it ruined the weekend even more; just because it was Lincoln. Since that fateful weekend in 2006, the Lincoln game is one of the first that I look for when the fixtures are released in June.
Despite the rivalry on the pitch, I do have a huge amount of respect for Lincoln’s fans. By joining and continuing to support the Imps Trust they are in a position where the board of the football club has two supporters (elected by members of the Trust) on it. The Trust also owns enough shares in the football club to ensure that any decisions that will have a negative impact on the fans can be vetoed. Whilst I hope that Town are never in the position where the fans have to raise money to prevent the club going out of business, like the Lincoln fans did in 2001, the position of fans having say in how the football club is run is something we should be envious of. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Town supporters could join and become a member of a democratic organisation that owns shares in the club?
You may be surprised to learn that such an organisation exists in the form of GTST. However, GTST is only as strong as the size of its membership and at the moment isn’t in a position to expect to have any say on how the club is run. You can of course help change this by becoming a member of GTST.
“A mixture of injuries, inadequate signings, and in the end very unfortunate luck of all conspired to 09/10 as being one of the Mariners darkest of seasons.” That quote isn’t from a future publication but, one that described Town’s season in Football League Division 2, 100 years ago (quoted from Dave Wherry’s excellent Sing When We’re Fishing). During the 1909/10 season Town had runs of 10 and 11 games without a win and got knocked out of the FA cup in the first round, losing 2-0 at home to a team from Gloucestershire. Also during the season Town set a then record of using 34 players during the league campaign that ended up with us finishing second from bottom. Back then there wasn’t any automatic relegation from the league but Town did lose out in the re-election vote and ended up been relegated from the Football League to the Midland League.
While the chances of history repeating itself this year are no more likely just because it’s exactly 100 years ago we, as football fans, all know that the game is full of coincidences like this and my optimism regarding our chances of staying up have somewhat diminished since reading the above. However, if history is to repeat itself and we do lose our league status this season, the events of the following season may well be a cause for optimism. In 1910/11 Grimsby Town wore black and white striped shirts for the first time and won the Midland League and election (by 18 votes to 17) back into the Football League at the expense of Lincoln City.
Hopefully today will be the start of a revival that doesn’t see the events of 1909/10 repeated but, whatever happens, enjoy the game and don’t forget to join the Trust.
Finally today, on behalf of GTST and all other Town fans, I would like to pass the following message to all of the Grimsby Town playing staff.
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please WIN today’s game!
Enjoy the game, join the trust.
Ian Fitzgerald - GTST Board Member
