REELING IN A BIG FISH

 

Printed in the National League South game v Chippenham Town Tuesday 2nd September 2025  We won 3-2 in front of 556

‘Ball hit bar, fans hit roof, feet hit the steps as a surge of stripes swept down onto the pitch, mobbing and sobbing, leaping and weeping, players held aloft, holding Harry Haddocks aloft, the ground throbbing. And the world outside our little window now sees what we see. Proper football in a proper ground with proper owners and proper fans.’

Breathless commentary on a night of thunderstorms and biblical rain. Grimsby Town v Manchester United in the League Cup where David v Goliath doesn’t even come close to describing the financial chasm between the clubs.

Most Slough supporters have got a soft spot for Grimsby after our FA Cup tussle with them. It started with Nick the Trumpets ‘A Welcome to You Grimsby’ and the banter between the supporters grew into respect. And most football supporters love an underdog story, and could not quite believe what we were seeing as Grimsby battered them. Like a rowing boat taking on one of those mega trawlers that destroy the whole sea ecosystem. But for once, the minnows won.

But how did they do it? They are building a model similar to what is happening at Slough, harnessing the power of the football club to change the fortunes of their town. A town that is stepped in the fishing industry but also needs to look at other opportunities if it is to thrive.

The clubs community partners include Navigo (mental health), East Marsh United (who tackle everything from housing, education to arts and a whole lot more) and the NSPCC, while the players support the Sunflowers Children's Action Group, a local charity for children suffering life limiting conditions. They have joined forces with Our Future , a project creating new and an extremely green economic model for England's post-industrial communities.

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.”

Kristine Green, part of the Grimsby Town and Common Good Foundations 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. “You get a sense this is your moment, we’ve got to seize it.”

And then a night like this comes along. As their manager put it ‘The beauty of working for a club like Grimsby Town is you can bring so much joy to the community’. But its more than that, you can change a place for the better. Beating one of the biggest football club in the world will have just turbo charged that vision.

In contrast Man United's American owners have bled the club dry while they stumble around like floundering fish cutting jobs and removing perks and penny pinching for the lowest paid; who don’t understand loyalty or supporting staff who earn in a year what some of their players earn in an a few days. These things really matter if you are trying to build a successful organisation.

So can a football club carry the place it represents on its shoulders? Can it remember its past while embracing future possibilities? I think it can, and with the right commitment, can break out from what happens on the pitch and lift and support all those other organisations trying to make a difference to peoples lives. I love what Grimsby Town are trying to achieve and if the whole town can also be given a new sense of optimism, better housing, more money in peoples pockets, more opportunities,, greener energy, then surely everyone is a winner? I think clubs like Grimsby can provide the inspiration for clubs like Slough Town where our smart owners continue to transform the football club and with it the place where it sits.

Whatever happens I will continue to admire the Mariners and see just how far a football club can shape and regenerate the place they call home.