Grimsby preparing fresh giant-killing amid lucrative return of best FA Cup run in 84 years
At its peak, if you had lined up every trawler aft-to-bow, the line would have stretched miles out to sea - now football is taking over from fishing as the big noise on the Humber's south side
In the fishing garrison shafted by Brexit, things can only get batter.
At its peak, when it was the world's largest port for seafood, if you had lined up every trawler aft-to-bow, the fleet would have stretched miles out to sea. Today there are barely 20 trawlers left in Grimsby's docks, and a trail of decline spreading from the harbour is evident in the frightening number of empty retail units in the town centre.
It has been left to the Mariners at Blundell Park to lift spirits over the last 12 months – first by regaining Football League status and then by embarking on their best FA Cup run in 84 years.
Grimsby's quarter-final at Brighton on Sunday won't just take 4,620 fans - who snapped up their allocation in 12 hours - on a 500-mile joyride with up to 3,000 inflatable Harry Haddock toys, which have all but sold out in the club shop.
For a town at the sharp end of austerity, it will feel like the end of hardship. The Cup odyssey has been worth £558,000 in prize money alone to manager Paul Hurst's nautical explorers to date after the glorious tension of their 2-1 win at Southampton in the fifth round.
Throw in gate receipts and £200,000 live broadcast fee due from the BBC for the game at Brighton – assuming they have not been closed down completely by the Ministry of Free Speech and their craven Tory stooges – and Grimsby are nudging £1million in unbudgeted income this season.
The supporters love it. Josh Bown, 13, from Huddersfield, was on a school trip to France when Gavan Holohan's pair of penalties stunned Saints earlier this month. “I celebrated by jumping off the top bunk to annoy the girls in the dormitory downstairs,” he said.
Dad Martin nodded approvingly, adding: “If they can play like they did at Southampton, and stay solid at the back, we know anything can happen – especially in the Cup.”
Andrew Gallacher took his son Josh, 30, to his first game at Anfield 22 years ago. They hitchhiked to Merseyside and Grimsby mugged League Cup holders Liverpool with Phil Jevons' sensational winner in added time. “If we won at Brighton, it would top the lot,” he said.
Only ancient Mariners can recall Grimsby's run to the 1939 semi-finals after they won at Chelsea in the last eight, but there is an air of optimism around the club which transcends a Cup run.
When Debbie Cook, the club's first female chief executive, senses they are building “something special” they have record season ticket and replica shirt sales to back up her statement. In her programme notes, Cook said: “Being FA Cup quarter-finalists brings me personal joy for so many reasons – I'm thrilled for loyal fans who have followed this club for most of their lives through thick and thin.
“How wonderful that it's double the accolade in the McAtee family with both John (Grimsby's No.10) and James (his brother on loan at Sheffield United) becoming quarter-finalists in the same season.”
A gritty win against rock-bottom Rochdale, settled by George Lloyd's classy lob, was never going to be a beauty contest with Tuesday night's trip to Sutton ahead of next weekend's Cup crusade at the Amex. But if the Mariners claim another Premier League scallop, football will replace fishing as the biggest industry on the Humber's south side.
Skipper Luke Waterfall hopes the BBC's Linekergate crisis will be resolved in time for Grimsby to enjoy the full live TV treatment at Brighton, saying: “Whatever happens on the pitch, we want millions of people to see what we're about as a club.”
Don't go chasing Waterfall – unless you like the look of the bookies' 250-1 odds on Grimsby to win the FA Cup.
It might take a miracle, but in the shell of a once-mighty fishing stronghold, it would be a bream come true.
