Grimsby Town will take a side to play Boston Town during pre-season. The game has been fixed for Tuesday, 16 July so is likely to feature young players as the first team have a match pencilled in at Brigg Town on the same day.
Friendly games already announced:
Tues, 9 July – Cleethorpes Town (a) 7.15pm
Sat, 13 July – Winterton (a) 3pm
Tues, 16 July – Brigg Town (a) 7pm
Sat, 20 July – Scunthorpe United (a) 3pm
Fri, 2 August – Gainsborough Trinity (a) 7.30pm
According to yesterday’s Non League Paper, “hands have been shaken” on a deal which will mean BT’s new Sports channels will show live Conference football next season. The £300,000 deal will bring 30 live games over the course of the season. The deal is similar to that run by Premier Sports in recent seasons. However, with BT offering their Sports channels free to their broadband users, it means millions of people will be able to watch the games for free next season, as opposed to a few thousand who subscribe to Premier Sports. Conference chairman Brian Lee told the paper: “It’s great news, we’ve got an agreement in place for next season and it’s the news the league wanted.”
Richard Brodie has signed for his home town club Gateshead, according to the BBC. The striker, who had a turbulent and unsuccessful loan period at Grimsby Town last season, has signed a one year deal. Gateshead manager Anth Smith has described Brodie’s signing as ‘massive’ for his club and he’ll form a strike partnership with another new signing Adam Boyes, who had previously played under Rob Scott and Paul Hurst at Boston. Interestingly, Brodie has told The Shields Gazette he has been ‘distracted’ in recent times and found it “easy to focus on other things rather than football.” Anyone who witnessed his ‘performance’ at Wembley wouldn’t disagree.
(Image taken from the official Grimsby Town website).
Over the next few days you may notice a couple of changes to the blog. I’m intending to post more articles – including many more shorter ‘news’ items – and more links to stories related to Grimsby Town in some way, perhaps features or interviews by other media. There will also be a few aesthetic changes to try and make it look a bit nicer. I’ll still be writing longer articles too and hopefully stimulating a bit of debate. If you want to get involved in any way message me on Twitter (@toogoodtogodown) or fill in the form below!
Some excellent news this morning. The Mariners Trust has informed members by email that they have come to an agreement for a Supporter Director to join the board at Grimsby Town. The email states:
Naturally we are delighted that for the first time in the history of Grimsby Town the supporters have the opportunity to have a say in the boardroom of our club .This formalises an already inclusive relationship which has enabled us to be involved at a very detailed level including for instance this coming season’s budget. As a follow on to the work we did last year on summarising the accounts we will be issuing something shortly which will explain in simple terms the key elements of the budget. This level of involvement and sharing of information is far beyond the vast majority of Football Clubs in the UK and as good as some that are fully owned by fans.
Further details will be announced in a couple of weeks time. In the meantime, there’s never been a better time to join the Trust and help supporters have their say in their club…
Over the weekend a message from Portsmouth FC went viral on social media, promoting their season tickets. It’s been re-tweeted thousands of times (by fans of different clubs) and discussed at length on messageboards. For fans sick of modern football – and let’s face it, if you watched any of the FA Cup Final on Saturday the slick, corporate machine that now runs the game is enough to make you vomit – the message behind the image is the perfect antidote to the poison ruining the game. If Grimsby’s relegation to the Conference has done anything it’s actually made me enjoy football again. I like going to games, I like the atmosphere and I like the fact the players and the club have become more approachable.
But with the lure of glamorous football force fed to kids across the country – and with Hull now in the Premier League it’s even on our doorstep – do we need to work harder as a community to push the 2013/14 season at Blundell Park? It’s not solely the responsibility of the club when it comes to getting people through the turnstiles, I think we all have a part to play. The Mariners’ marketing presence was the best it has ever been in 2012/13 with regular updates on Twitter and on Facebook. Matches were promoted using Facebook’s header image and competitions were run via social media platforms and the club website to raise awareness. This is great for people who already have an interest in the club, but it’s becoming even more difficult to pull people away from the bright lights of the Premier League – you only have to visit Blundell Park on a matchday to see an assortment of shirts that aren’t in Grimsby Town colours. We can all encourage fairweather fans once or twice a season and, to be fair, the club has always put together some good offers for free kids or discounted friends. But if we’re going to have a club to support in the future we need to encourage a new generation of fans to ditch their Rooneys and Van Persies and instead worship the Hannahs, Hearns and Cooks of this world.
In 2011 Scunthorpe United came up with an excellent idea. They put flyers through every single letterbox in the Brigg area encouraging floating fans to see a game for a discount – the idea being that hopefully those who went to the game would enjoy it and go again. I think it would be a great idea if Town could try something similar. There are lots of towns and villages in the area that have their pick of football – Brigg, Barton, Barrow etc have a choice of Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe, for instance. Perhaps a ‘family ticket’ for £20 would be enough to entice new fans. Even if it’s just putting together some posters that fans can print off and put up in shops, clubs, cafes etc Maybe this is something the Mariners Trust could help with in terms of mobilising foot soldiers to pound the streets?
Over 87,000 fans passed through the turnstiles at Blundell Park last season, surpassed only by Luton. The Lincoln game on New Year’s Day saw the single biggest crowd across the whole league. Around 18,000 made the trip to Wembley. The fanbase is certainly there, it’s just encouraging them to come on a more regular basis. The more people who come, the more money in the coffers for the club to be run on a more stable footing and the more attractive the club becomes to new players, sponsors etc.
And the more likely it is that we’ll have a football club to support in years to come.
Today’s blog is more an information point than a comment, as the Mariners Trust have announced a very special guest for Friday’s event with George Kerr. The details, courtesy of the Trust, are below.
Joe Waters has managed to change his plans and will now be attending. Joe is flying in from the USA where he now lives. He will always have a special place in the hearts of Grimsby Town fans as it was the fans who raised the money to buy him from Leicester in 1976. Again this is a fantastic gesture and one that surely merits a full house on the night.
Tickets are still available at the club office or by post to 9 Rymer Place , Cleethorpes, DN35 0EW (cheques payable to Grimsby Town Supporters) . You can also purchase online using Paypal at http://www.marinerstrust.co.uk. Link to the shop is here http://www.marinerstrust.co.uk/index.php/shop/category/14-mariners-trust-events
We are also happy to take pledges for tickets which can be collected and paid for on the night. Tickets are priced £20 for members and £25 for non members . We also have a few VIP tickets left at £40 which includes pre event complimentary drinks in the boardroom with George and the players and then best seats for the event.
No matter your age ,if you are a Grimsby Town fan this will be a night to remember and as well as enjoying yourself you will be raising funds for Dementia charity and Grimsby Town Youth development . Please support.
