Tony Butcher pays tribute to one of the east coast's scariest spots
Now what is the professional footballer’s favourite phrase to describe the joy of playing in the Premiership? “No disrespect to the likes of Grimsby but…” It isn’t just the name, it’s the ground, the small, cold, but above all old Blundell Park, the home of the Mariners since 1899.
Monday 1 Arsenal go a point clear after a 3-0 win at Charlton. “We know it’s down to us now,” says Arsène. “We’ve gifted six goals in two games,” sighs a baffled David O’Leary as Leeds’ Champs League hopes fade further with a 2-1 defeat at Spurs. Ipswich slip into the bottom three after Marcus Bent misses a penalty in a goalless draw with Chelsea, while John Gregory is “almost lost for words” after Derby’s 1-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough. Everton survive the early dismissal of a punch-throwing Duncan Ferguson (“He was stupid and I’ve told him,” says his new manager) to record a 3-1 win over Bolton, also reduced to ten. In the First, West Brom’s 1-0 win at Coventry takes them level on points with Wolves, beaten 2-0 at home by Man City. Brighton go two points clear at the top of the Second with a last-minute winner against Bristol City, displacing Reading who draw at home with Northampton. Several Luton players are questioned by police following a nightclub brawl to celebrate their promotion. Halifax, 5-0 losers at Darlington, go down to the Conference for the second time in nine years.
When it comes to the manager's job, clubs are rarely in doubt whether they should, as Ron Atkinson would say, stick or twist. But would it make sense to hold their nerve when things go wrong? Paul Giess gives his opinion on his club Walsall
Twenty-four hours after a struggling Walsall side tamely lay down and died in a local derby at neighbouring West Bromwich on January 20, the club’s owner Jeff Bonser was forced into “the most difficult decision I have ever had to make”. Supporters were left to digest the most difficult news many had ever had to hear as news of Ray Graydon’s dismissal filtered through the local radio and newspapers.
Phil Ball remembers Grimsby Town's 1979-80 season
There’s pleasure in purgatory. Thus speaks the Grimsby Town supporter, a strange creature stuck out in the wilds of north-east Lincolnshire, miles from anywhere, in a cut-off place with a cut-off mentality to boot. If you are handed the burden of following this club from an early age, you very soon learn that you are likely to spend the rest of your life having the piss taken out of you, a curious state of affairs which nevertheless hardens you and makes you all the more determined to face things out – to go into the world, as Val Doonican might have put it, walking straight and looking at your adversaries in the eye.
John Secker talks about his club Blackpool – the best players he's seen play for them, their local rivals success and the struggle to get out of Division Two
How do Blackpool fans view the current revival of other Lancashire clubs? Is it seen as an encouraging sign or there a sense of frustration that Blackpool should be in there too?
Blackpool fans hate their local rivals, but the amount of venom varies. There is little apparent rivalry with Blackburn, perhaps because it is so long since we were in the same division. It is very different with Burnley, and above all with Preston, who are definitely the team Blackpool supporters love to hate. The other thing is that Blackpool have had their own revival recently – in late 2000 we were next to bottom of the League, and now we are fairly comfortable in the Second Division.With a little luck we could be playing Preston or Burnley again before long.