Friday, 25 January 2008
Another right-back, another planet
The Mariners, it would be fair to say, have never had much to do with the Premier League. A GTFC director might have phoned them up 15 years ago to ask how big your ground has to be to get in, and the girls on reception laughed and made up a number, which is why the Fentydome is ending up expandable to 20,100 seats, but that's about it.
For a giddy week or two in late 1995, when Ivano Bonetti briefly satisfied our Grimbarian need for an instant solution to decades of neglect and apathy, Town sat in the upper reaches of the second flight and anything looked possible. But anything was possible: by the end of the season we were 16th and the goalkeeper seemed to be chucking the ball in his own net on purpose.
We've rubbed shoulders with plenty of Premier League clubs in the cups. But Town's victory over Spurs in 2005 showed how little they know of us. Tottenham fans' blogs afterwards described their experience at "Blunden Park" as "the result of a lifetime for Grimsby". Which it was, as long as you're younger than 35 and you don't count our cup wins against Everton (1979 and 1984), Newcastle (1982), Middlesbrough (1989), Aston Villa (1991), West Ham (1996), Leicester (1997), Norwich (1998) and Liverpool (2001).
True, the Mariners proudly boast a dozen or so seasons of top-flight history either side of the Second World War – which is a dozen or so more, of course, than any other club in the Lincolnshire and Humber area. Unfortunately this is not recognised in the new official version of football history, which maintains that the game was invented in 1992 by Sky TV.
But those who really know football know that the top division is very far from the be-all and end-all. And if you want to see clearly what the Premier League stands for today, then look no further than the champions Manchester United, who decided that the banner displayed at Old Trafford to commemorate next month's 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster wouldn't be complete without the logo of their corporate sponsor AIG.
If United have built themselves a parallel universe from the one Town inhabit, it's all the more pleasing to see their manager – together with two other Premier League bosses – backing this newspaper's renewed campaign to have John McDermott made an MBE. And as Shrewsbury arrive at Blundell Park tomorrow it's a timely reminder of his final game, back at Gay Meadow last May.
Macca would have been a Premier League player if he hadn't said no to Bradford, Ipswich and Sunderland. But this is exactly why he deserves the award. There are hundreds of Premier League players – and there's only one John McDermott.
For a giddy week or two in late 1995, when Ivano Bonetti briefly satisfied our Grimbarian need for an instant solution to decades of neglect and apathy, Town sat in the upper reaches of the second flight and anything looked possible. But anything was possible: by the end of the season we were 16th and the goalkeeper seemed to be chucking the ball in his own net on purpose.
We've rubbed shoulders with plenty of Premier League clubs in the cups. But Town's victory over Spurs in 2005 showed how little they know of us. Tottenham fans' blogs afterwards described their experience at "Blunden Park" as "the result of a lifetime for Grimsby". Which it was, as long as you're younger than 35 and you don't count our cup wins against Everton (1979 and 1984), Newcastle (1982), Middlesbrough (1989), Aston Villa (1991), West Ham (1996), Leicester (1997), Norwich (1998) and Liverpool (2001).
True, the Mariners proudly boast a dozen or so seasons of top-flight history either side of the Second World War – which is a dozen or so more, of course, than any other club in the Lincolnshire and Humber area. Unfortunately this is not recognised in the new official version of football history, which maintains that the game was invented in 1992 by Sky TV.
But those who really know football know that the top division is very far from the be-all and end-all. And if you want to see clearly what the Premier League stands for today, then look no further than the champions Manchester United, who decided that the banner displayed at Old Trafford to commemorate next month's 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster wouldn't be complete without the logo of their corporate sponsor AIG.
If United have built themselves a parallel universe from the one Town inhabit, it's all the more pleasing to see their manager – together with two other Premier League bosses – backing this newspaper's renewed campaign to have John McDermott made an MBE. And as Shrewsbury arrive at Blundell Park tomorrow it's a timely reminder of his final game, back at Gay Meadow last May.
Macca would have been a Premier League player if he hadn't said no to Bradford, Ipswich and Sunderland. But this is exactly why he deserves the award. There are hundreds of Premier League players – and there's only one John McDermott.
Labels: bonetti, fentydome, ferguson, manchester united, mcdermott, premiership, shrewsbury, sky, sponsorship, tottenham
Friday, 21 December 2007
Sites for sore eyes
It's a decade and a half since Town first made plans for a new stadium. The council has now given up and said several times "yes, alright, build the thing – just stop bothering us!" But at no point have the supporters been given a chance to tell our club what we think the Fentydome should be like.
The location and overall design of the stadium seem finalised. We can't afford anything nicer than a cheap shed, exactly the same as Shrewsbury's and Doncaster's and every bugger else's, and we can't build it anywhere other than Great Coates because there's no other set of local residents we want to annoy more.
But there are other considerations in the overall matchday experience (leaving aside the actual quality of the football). It must still be possible to enjoy a match at an ugly, sterile ground in a barren post-industrial wilderness; otherwise Scunthorpe's attendances would be even lower.
So let's see the fans get some say on what goes inside the ground. And Mr Fenty could probably use our help, preoccupied as he has been with many other concerns. Only this week Ofcom threw out his complaints against Radio Humberside's coverage of their dispute with the club over broadcasting rights. Some might add that if any organisation deserves a reprimand from a communications watchdog, it must be the one that boasted its new stadium would offer "synergies with Europarc" and then proudly urged fans to go to its brand new website and "check it our".
In January last year the club launched a spectacular multimedia website at www.gtfcnewstadium.co.uk, where the theme from Star Wars launched visitors into a breathtaking 3D virtual reality tour of the ground. I'm absolutely sure they must have paid the copyright holder all the rights and performance fees for the music; it's just a shame that they seem to have forgotten to renew the web address when it expired on 29 November, because visitors to the site now are met with a flat and empty expanse of grey – much like the scene that will greet visitors to the site for the new stadium, in fact.
This just leaves the other new stadium website at extra-gtfc.co.uk/newstadium – where we discover a ringing endorsement for the project from the team manager. "I have seen the blueprint and I think it is superb and ideally located just off the A180. It is so accessible and a lot of thought seems to have gone into it," says Russell Slade.
If the Fentydome is to be anything other than appalling, Town must invite suggestions from the people who have to use it. And then the club must prove to be a lot better at building and maintaining stadiums than they are at building and maintaining websites.
The location and overall design of the stadium seem finalised. We can't afford anything nicer than a cheap shed, exactly the same as Shrewsbury's and Doncaster's and every bugger else's, and we can't build it anywhere other than Great Coates because there's no other set of local residents we want to annoy more.
But there are other considerations in the overall matchday experience (leaving aside the actual quality of the football). It must still be possible to enjoy a match at an ugly, sterile ground in a barren post-industrial wilderness; otherwise Scunthorpe's attendances would be even lower.
So let's see the fans get some say on what goes inside the ground. And Mr Fenty could probably use our help, preoccupied as he has been with many other concerns. Only this week Ofcom threw out his complaints against Radio Humberside's coverage of their dispute with the club over broadcasting rights. Some might add that if any organisation deserves a reprimand from a communications watchdog, it must be the one that boasted its new stadium would offer "synergies with Europarc" and then proudly urged fans to go to its brand new website and "check it our".
In January last year the club launched a spectacular multimedia website at www.gtfcnewstadium.co.uk, where the theme from Star Wars launched visitors into a breathtaking 3D virtual reality tour of the ground. I'm absolutely sure they must have paid the copyright holder all the rights and performance fees for the music; it's just a shame that they seem to have forgotten to renew the web address when it expired on 29 November, because visitors to the site now are met with a flat and empty expanse of grey – much like the scene that will greet visitors to the site for the new stadium, in fact.
This just leaves the other new stadium website at extra-gtfc.co.uk/newstadium – where we discover a ringing endorsement for the project from the team manager. "I have seen the blueprint and I think it is superb and ideally located just off the A180. It is so accessible and a lot of thought seems to have gone into it," says Russell Slade.
If the Fentydome is to be anything other than appalling, Town must invite suggestions from the people who have to use it. And then the club must prove to be a lot better at building and maintaining stadiums than they are at building and maintaining websites.
Labels: communications, doncaster, fentydome, internet, new stadiums, radio, scunthorpe, shrewsbury, slade, websites
Friday, 31 August 2007
One step forward, two steps back
Until lately I was never much of a one for walking anywhere. True, walking is less strenuous than running, or surfing, or screaming abuse at Dave Challinor for 90 minutes. But it is still physical activity, and therein lay the problem.
But the doctor said if I didn't reduce my cholesterol then my heart might stop at any moment (the risk presumably being heightened while screaming abuse at Dave Challinor). My options were to do some exercise, give up pies and ale, or take some tablets with terrifying potential side-effects (warning: may cause drowsiness, nausea, or the sudden melting of your liver).
Of these three unappealing prospects I settled on exercise. And rather than spend two or three nights a week in one of those appalling gyms, dribbling like a lab rat wired to an electric shock machine, I settled on the much more dignified business of walking. Walking is environmentally sound; it gives you time to think and daydream; and, most importantly of all, it is much cheaper these days than getting the bus.
Furthermore, walking is the favoured form of activity of many top athletes and sports professionals. Anyone who has watched international football recently will know that members of the England team, for example, clearly prefer 90 minutes of walking to any kind of running at all.
And walking to and from the football is an important part of many supporters' matchday rituals – which is being destroyed by the move to new stadiums in the middle of nowhere.
Town are away at Shrewsbury tomorrow, a fixture traditionally enriched by the leisurely stroll to Gay Meadow from the superb Three Fish pub in the town centre. But the Shrews have now moved to a depressing-looking new ground on cheap land out of town. Any seasoned user of foot power will tell you it's the walk first, then a few pints – not the other way round. So after a pre-match drink that journey to the edge of Shrewsbury would feel more like 30 miles than three – and, as if this were not already too great a feat of endurance, instead of having a nice long bath at the end of it you'd have to watch a fourth division football match.
And this would apply equally to the Mariners' proposed new stadium. When (and if) we make it to the Fentydome, I'll miss that stroll along the Grimsby Road from the Rutland Arms. I'll miss the lovely Huddersfield couple who run the chippy we always stop at. And I certainly won't be joining in with the chant "Driving down the A180 or perhaps using a park-and-ride system to seeeeeee the Buckley's aces/And then waiting two hours to get out of the car park afterwards".
But the doctor said if I didn't reduce my cholesterol then my heart might stop at any moment (the risk presumably being heightened while screaming abuse at Dave Challinor). My options were to do some exercise, give up pies and ale, or take some tablets with terrifying potential side-effects (warning: may cause drowsiness, nausea, or the sudden melting of your liver).
Of these three unappealing prospects I settled on exercise. And rather than spend two or three nights a week in one of those appalling gyms, dribbling like a lab rat wired to an electric shock machine, I settled on the much more dignified business of walking. Walking is environmentally sound; it gives you time to think and daydream; and, most importantly of all, it is much cheaper these days than getting the bus.
Furthermore, walking is the favoured form of activity of many top athletes and sports professionals. Anyone who has watched international football recently will know that members of the England team, for example, clearly prefer 90 minutes of walking to any kind of running at all.
And walking to and from the football is an important part of many supporters' matchday rituals – which is being destroyed by the move to new stadiums in the middle of nowhere.
Town are away at Shrewsbury tomorrow, a fixture traditionally enriched by the leisurely stroll to Gay Meadow from the superb Three Fish pub in the town centre. But the Shrews have now moved to a depressing-looking new ground on cheap land out of town. Any seasoned user of foot power will tell you it's the walk first, then a few pints – not the other way round. So after a pre-match drink that journey to the edge of Shrewsbury would feel more like 30 miles than three – and, as if this were not already too great a feat of endurance, instead of having a nice long bath at the end of it you'd have to watch a fourth division football match.
And this would apply equally to the Mariners' proposed new stadium. When (and if) we make it to the Fentydome, I'll miss that stroll along the Grimsby Road from the Rutland Arms. I'll miss the lovely Huddersfield couple who run the chippy we always stop at. And I certainly won't be joining in with the chant "Driving down the A180 or perhaps using a park-and-ride system to seeeeeee the Buckley's aces/And then waiting two hours to get out of the car park afterwards".
Labels: challinor, drinking, fentydome, idleness, new stadiums, shrewsbury, travel, walking
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