 To say that this season has been a terrible disappointment would be an understatement, so when the Club asked us a few weeks ago who the Trust’s player of the year was going to be, our initial reaction was to laugh out loud.
Having said that, there have been a few bright spots on an otherwise dismal horizon this season. Under a manager capable of getting the best out of him, Peter Bore has finally begun to fulfil the potential that we all saw in him when he first burst onto the scene four years ago. We have also seen encouraging signs of the inspirational player and leader Lee Peacock could be with an injury-free pre-season behind him. In addition some of the loan signings made in the latter part of the season have shown some skill and flair, but sadly none of this was quite enough to counteract the very obvious deficiencies in other areas that have brought about our sad demise. Given the number of substandard performances the fans have been forced to suffer, particularly in the first two-thirds of the season, and our ultimate relegation to the Conference, the GTST Board feels that it would be inappropriate to give its Player of the Year award to any member of the first team playing staff. There were several options we could have taken. We could have given the award to no-one at all. Alternatively we could have acknowledged the excellent performances of our cup-winning youth team this season by giving the trophy to one of them. Ultimately though, we decided that the Trust’s award should be a reflection of the supporters’ disillusionment with the first team’s performances, not just this season, but over a number of years. As a result, we have made the decision to present our award to the only consistently good performer on the hallowed turf of Blundell Park this season, a man whose dedication to Grimsby Town Football Club over many years is worthy of a far higher playing field than League Two, let alone the Blue Square Conference, and a far higher standard of football than his beautifully prepared pitch has had to endure for the majority of the last nine months. So, our award this year goes to GTFC groundsman Mike Phillips, whose immaculate playing surface has deserved so much better than being cut up by certain players who, for one reason or another, have not been fit to tread on it. Whilst there are a few players already at the club who are worthy to set foot on Mike’s green, green grass of home, there are not enough. So we hope for and expect better next season. We expect a team who, to a man, will show their pride and passion for Grimsby Town Football Club in the way they play. We expect players who will work their backsides off and be dedicated to the cause and who will aspire to be the best they can possibly be, making up for any lack of talent with a willingness to run through brick walls for GTFC. And we expect this week in, week out. Perhaps this is too much to expect, but it’s not too much to ask and it is certainly what the long-suffering supporters of Grimsby Town Football Club deserve. Play-off and cup competition finals made us appear better than we were and the euphoria of surviving by the skin of our teeth masked the smell of failure and created false cause for optimism, but the truth is that we have been in a decline for a long time now and this must be halted before our once proud club slips any further into non-league obscurity. |
