What are Mariners' fans hopes this season?
Tuesday night's opponents Grimsby Town returned to the EFL this season after a stint in non-league.But, as they adjust to life back in the league, what are their hopes for the coming campaign? We spoke to the team at The Cod Almighty to find out more.
1) Having returned to the Football League last time around, what are Grimsby's hopes for the new season?
But this is the one season ever when our insanely high expectations will be tempered, and it'll be another year before someone scrawls HURST OUT on a bedsheet festooned across the bridge over the A180. Quick, give the youth team kids a game!
It doesn't matter how much is going wrong off the pitch; anything less than promotion is viewed with impatience at best, or purple-faced gurgling "we're drawing 0-0 at half time, sack the manager" at worst.
The last two generations of Town fans grew up watching second-flight football, so we go into nearly every season with insanely high expectations.
It doesn't matter how much is going wrong off the pitch; anything less than promotion is viewed with impatience at best, or purple-faced gurgling "we're drawing 0-0 at half time, sack the manager" at worst.
The last two generations of Town fans grew up watching second-flight football, so we go into nearly every season with insanely high expectations.
2) What have you made of their summer transfer dealings?
Some of the others might take longer to convince us, but Paul Hurst's record in the summer transfer market has earned him a lot of the trust that should have been his to begin with.
Ben Davies, Sean McAllister and Kayden Jackson are unambiguously excellent signings.
There were a lot of them. A lot. This is a radically different squad to the one that won promotion. We kicked off against Morecambe the other week with nine new players on the pitch.
Ben Davies, Sean McAllister and Kayden Jackson are unambiguously excellent signings.
There were a lot of them. A lot. This is a radically different squad to the one that won promotion. We kicked off against Morecambe the other week with nine new players on the pitch.
3) What do you think will be the key to the Mariners' success this year?
Still, Hurst has proved us wrong plenty of times so far, so I won't be too surprised to see him do it again.
Hurst experimented unsuccessfully with a 4-2-3-1 system in pre-season. He's brought in the players for it, but we've seen so many managers try and fail with different systems over the years before gingerly resuming two banks of four.
Setting the team up right. We Grimbarians are sceptical about many things, and fancy formations are one. Any departure from 4-4-2 will have to be for a very good reason.
Hurst experimented unsuccessfully with a 4-2-3-1 system in pre-season. He's brought in the players for it, but we've seen so many managers try and fail with different systems over the years before gingerly resuming two banks of four.
Setting the team up right. We Grimbarians are sceptical about many things, and fancy formations are one. Any departure from 4-4-2 will have to be for a very good reason.
4) Who will be their key men to watch today?
Tom Bolarinwa is dead nippy too. We're going big on pace this year. Omar Bogle was the talisman of our successful play-off campaign last year: defenders in these divisions can't play him when he brings his A game. Increasingly he brings his A game.
Jackson's pace and movement on his debut were too much for Morecambe to handle - OK, so are most things, but he looks equipped to make a big impact this season.
Jackson's pace and movement on his debut were too much for Morecambe to handle - OK, so are most things, but he looks equipped to make a big impact this season.
5) Who do you think are the main contenders for promotion in League Two this season?
Portsmouth and Plymouth can't stuff it up again, can they? Donny Rovers should be right up there too. Hartlepool will be your dark horses (they keep signing our best players). And of course, Wycombe will go up and then come down again in 2018: that's just how they roll.
6) What do you expect from Tuesday night’s game?
One-all draw. We will go ahead with a first-half goal from Jackson, and then sit deep to protect the lead, holding out for more than an hour only to concede through a controversial penalty with three minutes to go. It'll be nice and sunny. Then you'll probably move to another new stadium.
, and look out for an entertaining, cliché-free report on tonight's match in a couple of days' time.@codalmighty, follow codalmighty.com
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Tonight's questions were answered by Pete Green, an editor and writer on Cod Almighty, Grimsby Town's occasionally quite good digital fanzine, which has been online since 2002.
Tonight's questions were answered by Pete Green, an editor and writer on Cod Almighty, Grimsby Town's occasionally quite good digital fanzine, which has been online since 2002.