New Stadium Money Being Fiddled?

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 04/08/2003

GRIMSBY Town supporters accused the board of fiddling the books of the new stadium and having a good time with the cash! Who said? Bob Lincoln said! In a new book "Reminiscences of Grimsby Town Football Club 1879-1912" about the time when Town were looking to buy a new ground called Blundell Park!

The accusations were completely unfounded, but the book written by Bob Lincoln, one of the founders of GTFC who also played for them in the early years, is a cracking read as Bob seems to have been a "bit of a card" and it tells of all sorts of misbehaviour and misdeeds around the early years of the club.

It also contains some very amusing anecdotes and it's surprising to find that some things never change in football - most of the problems the Mariners have today also existed in the early years of the club!

For example:

"I for one even in this present year, when I am inflicting this on you, am of opinion that it is infinitely better in the true interests of Grimsby Town to be winning matches in the Second Division than to be struggling at the bottom of the First. Of course, I know the well-known cry of a certain section "We must be in the First at all costs." Yes, quite so, but invariably they are the very first to keep away if the team are down on their luck, and the Directorate (The Board) can go to - well, not Cleethorpes."

Did you also know that the supporters were called "Pontoonites" before Blundell Park was even thought of?

This is a must for all Grimsby Town fans. How the club began, how officials of the Football Alliance were bribed with basses of fish and much more.

I have had the pleasure of reviewing this book for Fishy readers and I have to tell you it is a 'must read' book that is not only informative but a great laugh. Some of the escapades of the officials etc are hilarious! But most of all, it is an eyewitness account of the founding of football in Grimsby and Lincolnshire and a significant part of Town's history. I will treasure my copy!

Available only from Soccer Books Cleethorpes.

Reminiscences of Grimsby Town Football Club 1879-1912
Extracted from a book originally published in 1912, this classic reprint gives a fascinating and humorous account of the development of football in Grimsby and Lincolnshire. Published in 2003.
Size: 152mm x 234mm - 150 pages.
Softback Price: £15.95 / US $26.32

To order Click here! You will find it under 'new soccer books' and 'new club titles'

Or you can contact Soccerbooks here

Click Here for details!

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