GRIMSBY ANGLING FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

Printed in the National League South game v Ebbsfleet United Saturday 25th March (the first ever NLS game to be televised). We lost 1-0 in front of 1,211 

It was one of those football kissed weekends that come from having boys that support a different team. The Slough hoards descended on the tranquil town of Eastbourne. We made some noise, drunk the odd thimble of beer but went home pointless against a decent Borough side whose fans continue to hit the mute button during games.

Then Sunday it was the FA Cup quarter final.

Brighton’s AMEX stadium isn't the best place for atmosphere – probably cos it has lots of people like me who don’t support the club but get dragged along by their children.

But the football they play is unbelievable. A homeless car-crash not so long ago on the brink of losing their football league status. Rescued by former chair Dick Knight who worked with the supporters to fight for a new ground and launched Albion in the Community to hook the youngsters into being fans of the future. Then came the cash and strategic brains of Tony Bloom, building the infrastructure, and a player recruitment system that finds endless gems while bigger clubs flail around like beached whales throwing good money after bad.

At Slough Town we know a run in the FA Cup is like nothing else and 5,000 Grimsby Town supporters bought a joyful, playful atmosphere to the city. They had swarmed over Brighton, taking over pubs, and the Pier with everyone saying what top people they were.

They had got just back to the football league, but there’s much more to it than just a football club having a run in the FA Cup. They are lucky they have a Grimsby born co- chairman whose vision will transform not just the football club but the town. Jason Stockwood gets what a football club could and should be – without that pompous Premier-League-in-five-seasons guff you get from so many.

This was evident from the fact that the new sports minister chose their Blundell Park ground to announce that the launch of the long awaited Football White Paper which includes a new independent regulator.

Grimsby Town are one of the original members of the Fair Game initiative, a group of 33 clubs who have been making the arguments for regulatory changes to shore up the football pyramid. Facts like that nearly every club in the Championship spends more on players’ wages than it earns. That the parachute payment given to one relegated Premier League club is more than is given to all the clubs in the next five divisions of the men’s game and the top two tiers of the women’s game put together. That since 2000, more than a third of clubs in the top four divisions have gone into administration while clubs like Bury and Macclesfield have gone bust. Things badly need to change.

But the Grimsby chairman isn’t stopping with what happens on the pitch but is harnessing the power of the football club to change the fortunes of the town.

They have joined forces with Emily Bolton, a social entrepreneur, in forming Our Future a project creating a new and extremely green economic model for England’s post-industrial communities. “Grimbarians have great ideas,” she says. “But we need something better than the same old model where a little money comes in but is controlled by people outside the region without a long-term commitment to the town.”

The club’s shirt sponsor is Myenergi, a local green business whose innovations include the Zappi, a solar electric vehicle charger and whose owner has rejected several offers to relocate the business abroad or elsewhere in the UK. “The talent in Grimsby is amazing. Other companies might manufacture overseas but if you invest in your local area you get so much more back. I love this town and the football club is its heartbeat. The Cup run is typical of the Grimsby underdog proving the world wrong again.”

The clubs chief executive Debbie Cook, strives to ensure the area’s young people can access enhanced opportunities. She is a big supporter of East Marsh United, a community housing scheme purchasing rundown, privately rented houses in a particularly deprived area and turning them into refurbished, affordable homes. “If you live somewhere substandard it affects your whole outlook on life,” says Cook.

Kristine Green, a club director and member of the Common Good Foundation is responsible for the community organising that is instrumental in creating the ties binding the team to town. “Grimsby’s full of strong, intelligent people and the club helps them build trust and collaborate,” she says. “There’s no easier way of bringing people together than football; it gives them a voice.”

All these plans are now coming to fruition in Grimsby. “You get a sense this is your moment,” says Bolton. “We’ve got to seize it.”

Which brings us back to Slough. Former chairman and successful businessman Steve Easterbrook who dragged us from the abyss and sent us back up the leagues had a vision. Sensible, prudent, hard working and humble he put the Rebels back to where we belong.

Now with new Rebel owners I get the feeling of something exciting stirring again. There’s a spring in our step and different initiatives – helped of course by those two wins on the pitch against teams below us. And it’s the little things that make a difference, that make people feel listened too and part of something. Clubshop Sue told me about upgrades to the shop with the new owners asking her opinion at every step. It’s so easy in the day to day relentlessness of running a football club to forget these conversations but they are so important to keep everyone on side especially those that do so much for the club.

And now I’ve got the possibility of watching Brighton at Wembley, but much to the disbelief of my children, I’d rather be cheering on the Rebels in Weymouth. Maybe it will be another double header weekend.

Whatever happens I will continue to admire Grimsby Town and see how far their football club can shape and regenerate the place they call home.