Looking Forward to the New Season

By: Ian Blakemore
Date: 29/06/2009

THE new season is looming and there is a sense of expectation after a good ending to last season which overall was very painful.

To begin with Town have held the prices of season tickets, with the most expensive being £299 for the newly renamed Findus Stand. So far Town have passed last season's halfway point of tickets sold in less than two weeks, which to credit to those that have paid up front shows the faith shown by the Magnificent Mariners fans. Findus who are part of the same group as Youngs have agreed to come home and sponsor Town, which is a good for the club and hopefully both will be rewarded with a positive season.

Town have new home and away shirts. In one day around 400 shirts were sold, with the fans queuing on a cold wet Sunday to get hold of the club colours. The home kit has gone to a more traditional look, and the away kit has returned to a deeper blue, with the addition of black and white stripes under the arms. Both look and feel great, I purchased both and enjoy wearing them and showing the world what the club means to me!

Now let's look at the team. A Steady start from Mike, he has captured young Joe and Bazza. For me both paid key roles in securing our Football League Safety. Young Joe added balance on the left side of our defence. He does have areas to improve and learn just like any young lad, but his general performances were very good; high energy levels enabled him to support Heggs allowing Town to get more joy from the left flank than in previous seasons! His positioning was good, he rarely went wandering and he backed up his centre backs and goalkeeper very well!

Conlon was like tonic is to gin; he was what Town was missing. A man who will battle in the air, keep hold of the ball at his feet, look to play players in and also finish most of his chances. 5 goals and a couple of assists in his games was an excellent return. Conlon enjoyed a fruitful spell and the fans called for the club to sign him. Fenty and the board pushed out the boat to capture the hit man giving Town healthy attacking options for next season!

Nick Hegarty was Town's much improved player last term. He assisted by creating and scoring some important goals. He gained glowing praise from Mark Wright after his performance against Chester City at The Deva Stadium in which Town came away with a point.

The players have returned to training and Newell is working hard, contacting and talking to potential signings. The areas Town are lacking are in goal and in midfield. Hopefully we will get the signature of Sweeney who was excellent in the middle of the park and also took a good set piece. A fully fit Sweeney will only bolster Town's chances of success.

As fans I am sure many will agree we are expecting much better and bigger things next season. Our defence is young but also has the experience of Stockdale. Club captain Ryan Bennett who at 19 has played 100 games for the first team and has had a bid of thought to be around £1Million in which Fenty made Barry Fry cry and spit his dummy out on several occasions by rejecting Peterborough s offers.

Now Town need a 'keeper. Sorry to state the obvious but a good solid goalkeeper has to be top of the list. Having Henderson in goal gave the defence confidence and to play without fear. That gave Town an edge in the final games allowing us to keep clean sheets and to go on to win several important games!

Are we happy with the work being done so far by the club? Ok maybe we would have liked to have seen a few more new faces here, but Mike Newell is not a man who will be rushed into buying for the sake of it. He brought some very good players in on loan last season, and his dealings in the loan market is what ultimately saved us in our hour of darkness. I am happy so far as I am very confident in Mike Newell as a manager and his ability to attract good players. He got Hegarty performing well, moved Nathan Jarman to the right wing and both went on to put in good performances and chipped in with goals which was good to see. He also cleared out those he did not want and that seemed to pay dividends.

The fans have kept faith and more people are showing an interest in our club. The Grimsby Telegraph worked closely with Town introducing some fantastic offers, getting local businesses to sponsor reduced matchday prices, in which we saw gates increase to over 6,000 which meant GTFC did not miss out financially. At a time of uncertainty with jobs and wages this was gladly appreciated by fans, GTFC and the Grimsby Telegraph. A buzz is around the air at the moment and long may this continue and lead to a successful 2009/10 season!

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