Relegation Decider - Grimsby v Chesterfield

[Clarkey_GTFC]

I don't even know what's happened. Earlier in the season we played you, and admittedly we were awful, but you played us off the park. That Dembele kid ran us ragged. What's gone off?

We thought we were safe so we sold our best players in January but it's backfired massively and we've been left with the worst squad in the history of the club by an incredible margin. There's not a manager on the planet who could salvage anything from the trash we've been left with. Our keeper is having the season of his career but he can't save us alone. Dembele convinced himself that he should be in the Prem and has been crap ever since. We have zero talent left.

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

Grimsby have been through and into the abyss before. It's only polite they do the same thing again.

 

[Soz]

Have Grimsby Town really got 6 points out of the last 60 available?!?!

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

5/2 is too big a price for an away win in my semi-professional betting opinion

 

[BlackHaddock]

Have Grimsby Town really got 6 points out of the last 60 available?!?!

Yip, managed six lucky draws, one against your lot.

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

5/2 is too big a price for an away win in my semi-professional betting opinion

It's not big enough if you look at our away record.

 

[GTFCfish]

Have Grimsby Town really got 6 points out of the last 60 available?!?!

Yep, funnily enough before this run we won 3 on the bounce and were only outside the play offs on goal difference as well, seems a very very long time ago.

 

[darren gregory]

I'm very surprised that Grimsby and Chesterfield are in this situation, maybe their fans feared the worst before the start of the season but I would not have predicted these two to be battling it out to stay in the league when the season started. Good memories of games against both clubs, both good and bad in terms of results. Hope if one of them does go down (it's not cut and dry, we are not 100% safe yet) that they come back sharpish.

Chesterfield must of been in the top few favourites i imagine to go up. Been a bit yo-yo ish over the past few seasons, winning the title at least once?
Maybe like ourselves they are in a losing mindset and often a double relegation can happen.
When Grimsby came to Vale in October i think they were hovering a few points off the play-offs but despite beating us 2-1 i didn't think that they were that great. That sad there is no way from that position anyone could of foreseen 20 without a win.
From a GTFC perspective can you ask for any more than Chesterfield and Barnet at home really.

I'm with a few other posters i have no affinity to either but do not wish to see either of them go down.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

It's not big enough if you look at our away record.

It is if you look at Grimsby’s home , away, overall record!

 

[valefan16]

Chesterfield must of been in the top few favourites i imagine to go up. Been a bit yo-yo ish over the past few seasons, winning the title at least once?
Maybe like ourselves they are in a losing mindset and often a double relegation can happen.
When Grimsby came to Vale in October i think they were hovering a few points off the play-offs but despite beating us 2-1 i didn't think that they were that great. That sad there is no way from that position anyone could of foreseen 20 without a win.
From a GTFC perspective can you ask for any more than Chesterfield and Barnet at home really.

I'm with a few other posters i have no affinity to either but do not wish to see either of them go down.

Haven't Chesterfield got board room issues like us? Recall them being very decent in L1 a few seasons back at their place. It is criminal that both them and us have ended up in this mess.

Grimsby made a critical error in selling key players in January, Jones was their stand out at VP so to sell him wont have helped at all.

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

I read something about the goings on at Vale (here?) which had elements very similar to our own ongoing demise. If we can stay up it's fight #1 won. Going down could well be the beginning of the end.

 

[BlackHaddock]

We need a bit of luck, or the rub of the green if you like, but when you are struggling everything seems go the other way. I am visiting my parents down in Devon over the weekend and be will going on a long walk without a phone during the game.

Their local pub will get some trade whatever the result!

 

[CFC91]

Haven't Chesterfield got board room issues like us? Recall them being very decent in L1 a few seasons back at their place. It is criminal that both them and us have ended up in this mess.

Grimsby made a critical error in selling key players in January, Jones was their stand out at VP so to sell him wont have helped at all.

Board room issues is putting it lightly. They're not far off taking us to the wall with what is going off.

Play offs to get into Championship to non league in 3 years would be some fall

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Board room issues is putting it lightly. They're not far off taking us to the wall with what is going off.

Play offs to get into Championship to non league in 3 years would be some fall

Not the first time it's happened either with Leyton Orient doing just that so very recently. Tranmere went from top of League 1 to Conference in 2 and a half years as well...

 

[GTFCfish]

Potentially the biggest game in our history and there are no offers on to try and get more fans in to really create an atmosphere and pack it out, which speaks volumes about the people running our club.

 

[OneDecentLester]

Not the first time it's happened either with Leyton Orient doing just that so very recently. Tranmere went from top of League 1 to Conference in 2 and a half years as well...

I don't know the situation with those two clubs, however I'm pretty certain that neither of those clubs would have recouped the transfer fees we have over the past 4 seasons... only for the majority of that money to be pocketed by our owner, and the rest of the money to be invested extremely poorly (In both coaching staff and players)...

Player sales in the last 4 years:
- Liam Cooper to Leeds: £750k
- Eoin Doyle to Cardiff: £750k
- Tendayi Darikwa to Burnley: £775k
- Sam Clucas to Hull: £2m (Sell on fee to swansea included)
- Gary Roberts to Pompey: £100k
- Sam Morsy to Wigan: £300k
- Gboly Ariyibi to Forest: £500k
- Jon Nolan to Shrewsbury: £200k

Manager Compensation:
- Paul Cook: £100k

Total: £5,475,000

That sort of money coming into a lower league club like ourselves from transfer fees alone is relatively unheard of, yet piss poor decisions year after year from our board has led to us being on the brink of relegation from league 2 and it's an absolute disgrace!

Tbh, I think you'd struggle to find a worst run club than ours under this current regime... some of the scandals that have been going off has made our once proud club a laughing stock (Rafflegate, Under investigation from the FA for using a private football academy to pay two of our players wages last season etc...)

As has been stated above, staying up is only half of the battle we're fighting! In terms of securing our clubs future we need to find new buyers from somewhere, and quickly, because the current board have no shame and would happily lead us into oblivion

 

[OneDecentLester]

Back to the game anyway...

We've sold out our initial allocation of 900 and the website is now showing that more tickets have been made available! We'll be close to selling this one out I reckon!

Update: We've just announced on our website that the game is going to be all ticket, so can see them being sold out by Friday.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I don't know the situation with those two clubs, however I'm pretty certain that neither of those clubs would have recouped the transfer fees we have over the past 4 seasons... only for the majority of that money to be pocketed by our owner, and the rest of the money to be invested extremely poorly (In both coaching staff and players)...

Player sales in the last 4 years:
- Liam Cooper to Leeds: £750k
- Eoin Doyle to Cardiff: £750k
- Tendayi Darikwa to Burnley: £775k
- Sam Clucas to Hull: £2m (Sell on fee to swansea included)
- Gary Roberts to Pompey: £100k
- Sam Morsy to Wigan: £300k
- Gboly Ariyibi to Forest: £500k
- Jon Nolan to Shrewsbury: £200k

Manager Compensation:
- Paul Cook: £100k

Total: £5,475,000

That sort of money coming into a lower league club like ourselves from transfer fees alone is relatively unheard of, yet piss poor decisions year after year from our board has led to us being on the brink of relegation from league 2 and it's an absolute disgrace!

Tbh, I think you'd struggle to find a worst run club than ours under this current regime... some of the scandals that have been going off has made our once proud club a laughing stock (Rafflegate, Under investigation from the FA for using a private football academy to pay two of our players wages last season etc...)

As has been stated above, staying up is only half of the battle we're fighting! In terms of securing our clubs future we need to find new buyers from somewhere, and quickly, because the current board have no shame and would happily lead us into oblivion

In the last 6 years we've received

£4 million for Nick Powell (would've been £6 million had he been a success at Manchester United)
£2.2 million for Ashley Westwood (including sell on fee)
£1.3 million for Luke Murphy
£750,000 for Ryan Colclough (including promotion and appearances clause)
£550,000 sell on fee for Grant Hanley
£350,000 for George Cooper (with clauses to follow if he does anything in the team)
£350,000 for Daniel Trickett-Smith (who flunked at Liverpool)
£300,000 for Max Clayton
£300,000 for George Nunn (youth player now at Chelsea)
£60,000 for Shaun Miller

Just over £10 million yet for the last 5 years we've been embroiled in a relegation scrap every year and we're being leeched by our majority shareholder whose taken at least £4 million out of the club in the last 10 years. So we know how it feels. The Academy is obviously our biggest expense but didn't you guys have a stadium to pay for as well which would've been your biggest expense?

It's a shame, I remember when that stadium opened and your gates went up you had a 5 year plan to get to the Championship (which you very nearly achieved as well despite a relegation in the second year of that.). But ever since Cook left it's been a sad decline. Pretty much summed up from when your chairman decided to resign at that AGM last year only to come crawling back the following year.

With Orient and Tranmere. Orient were run by that Italian who flooded the squad with expensive foreign imports who hadn't a chance of succeeding in England. Just when they looked to have stabilised in the league below, the owner sacked Kevin Nolan for narrowly being outside of the playoffs and then went crazy which is why they're doing time in non league now. I think they generated a couple of million from player sales which they squandered on wages too. Tranmere went down thanks to us and Notts County on the final day and failed to prepare for League Two. On the whole, I think they were very, very complacent about life in the lower league and greatly underestimated it, as you would when you've not been there since 1989. With rushed bargain basement signings and a manager who had never managed a game in his life and, when you haven't had a promotion for over 20 years, lacked a winning mentality after 18 months of relegation form in League One, they were on a hiding to nothing. Micky Adams almost kept them up but the damage was done when he flooded the squad with signings for the sake of it which caused major unrest in the ranks, hence they went down with a whimper.

The only other club I remember in my lifetime who went down two seasons on the spin were Stockport, but they were financially crippled and ended up paying a huge price. Thankfully for them though, they finally seem to be back on the up again after years of decline.

 

[CFC91]

Back to the game anyway...

We've sold out our initial allocation of 900 and the website is now showing that more tickets have been made available! We'll be close to selling this one out I reckon!

Update: We've just announced on our website that the game is going to be all ticket, so can see them being sold out by Friday.

What's the total allocation at Grimsby now then? If we've sold 900 should be 700 odd left surely? Will sell it out easy imo even if it has just been made all ticket.

 

[OneDecentLester]

What's the total allocation at Grimsby now then? If we've sold 900 should be 700 odd left surely? Will sell it out easy imo even if it has just been made all ticket.

Initial allocation was 900 and they've sent an extra 586, so full allocation is 1,486

 

[OneDecentLester]

In the last 6 years we've received

£4 million for Nick Powell (would've been £6 million had he been a success at Manchester United)
£2.2 million for Ashley Westwood (including sell on fee)
£1.3 million for Luke Murphy
£750,000 for Ryan Colclough (including promotion and appearances clause)
£550,000 sell on fee for Grant Hanley
£350,000 for George Cooper (with clauses to follow if he does anything in the team)
£350,000 for Daniel Trickett-Smith (who flunked at Liverpool)
£300,000 for Max Clayton
£300,000 for George Nunn (youth player now at Chelsea)
£60,000 for Shaun Miller

Just over £10 million yet for the last 5 years we've been embroiled in a relegation scrap every year and we're being leeched by our majority shareholder whose taken at least £4 million out of the club in the last 10 years. So we know how it feels. The Academy is obviously our biggest expense but didn't you guys have a stadium to pay for as well which would've been your biggest expense?

It's a shame, I remember when that stadium opened and your gates went up you had a 5 year plan to get to the Championship (which you very nearly achieved as well despite a relegation in the second year of that.). But ever since Cook left it's been a sad decline. Pretty much summed up from when your chairman decided to resign at that AGM last year only to come crawling back the following year.

With Orient and Tranmere. Orient were run by that Italian who flooded the squad with expensive foreign imports who hadn't a chance of succeeding in England. Just when they looked to have stabilised in the league below, the owner sacked Kevin Nolan for narrowly being outside of the playoffs and then went crazy which is why they're doing time in non league now. I think they generated a couple of million from player sales which they squandered on wages too. Tranmere went down thanks to us and Notts County on the final day and failed to prepare for League Two. On the whole, I think they were very, very complacent about life in the lower league and greatly underestimated it, as you would when you've not been there since 1989. With rushed bargain basement signings and a manager who had never managed a game in his life and, when you haven't had a promotion for over 20 years, lacked a winning mentality after 18 months of relegation form in League One, they were on a hiding to nothing. Micky Adams almost kept them up but the damage was done when he flooded the squad with signings for the sake of it which caused major unrest in the ranks, hence they went down with a whimper.

The only other club I remember in my lifetime who went down two seasons on the spin were Stockport, but they were financially crippled and ended up paying a huge price. Thankfully for them though, they finally seem to be back on the up again after years of decline.

Our owner showed his ambition when he sold 23 goal Eoin Doyle in January of 2015 when we were flying high in the league 1 play offs!

If he had just given us that extra push and little bit of investment we needed then I honestly believe we'd have gotten into the championship that year... our squad was unbelievable and we had the best manager in our history leading us!

Just for the record though, our chairman hasn't come back since he resigned at the AGM, he's still awol letting his right hand men run our club into the ground for him! They have absolutely no respect for us fans, it still beggars belief how our club secretary constantly comes out with shit like 'without Dave Allen this club wouldn't exist' as if we actually owe them some gratitude after what they've done..... the club was here a long time before DA and his boys came along, and HOPEFULLY the club will live on long after we get those leeches out!

 

[Posh Harry]

Initial allocation was 900 and they've sent an extra 586, so full allocation is 1,486

I think 1800 is the max. Think that’s what Lincoln had. They may reduce that a little expecting some trouble I guess.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Think they’ll limit it to 1600 and leave some space for the police.

 

[CFC91]

Think they’ll limit it to 1600 and leave some space for the police.

Going to be a lot of police then. Definitely will be tasty. About 400 left apparently but as they only made it all ticket yesterday afternoon I suspect they will sell out today.

Saw a post on your forum about police intel suggesting 150-200 risk Chesterfield fans travelling to the game. Will certainly liven things up if nothing else

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

I've just been to collect three and overheard the lady in there telling someone the remaining tickets wouldn't last long.

Surely we'll get the same 1800 Lincoln did. If it's known that the stand is deliberately under capacity it will just encourage ticket-less groups to turn up on the day and hope for the best.

 

[Lappingitup]

Haha, we don’t have 150-200 organised high risk supporters, maybe like everyone else 150-200 drunken odds and sods in little groups

 

[chrisblor]

Going to be a lot of police then. Definitely will be tasty. About 400 left apparently but as they only made it all ticket yesterday afternoon I suspect they will sell out today.

Saw a post on your forum about police intel suggesting 150-200 risk Chesterfield fans travelling to the game. Will certainly liven things up if nothing else

I'd ignore that. The bloke who posted it is a renowned bullshitter.

 

[SuperHans]

I've just been to collect three and overheard the lady in there telling someone the remaining tickets wouldn't last long.

Surely we'll get the same 1800 Lincoln did. If it's known that the stand is deliberately under capacity it will just encourage ticket-less groups to turn up on the day and hope for the best.

Still 300 available online as of lunchtime today, like you say they will all be gone before close of play on Friday. I would be disappointed if they didn't send more to give the full 1800 - its hardly as if we pose a bigger threat of trouble than Lincoln.

 

[FishyMackem]

I think we will take the lead and really struggle to hold on to it like we did in the Wycombe game. Biggest game of the season and I'm working!

 

[Waluigi]

Having seen Grimsby play at our place, but having missed Chesterfield away I really struggle to believe that the spireites are worse than Grimsby. Last time I saw a side with that little desire was our relegation side of 10/11, which performed a similar crash from respectability to relegation as the season closed in.

Really fancy Chesterfield here. (Ideally I'd prefer it if neither went down, enjoy playing both sides)