2006 play-off final

While we all know and heard the rumours surrounding our play-off final loss to Cheltenham in 2006, one thing that can be substantiated is the early injury to this man really hurt our chances....

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/grimsby-town-michael-reddy-injury-v-cheltenham-cost-club/

Hindsight is fantastic, but we shouldn't have started with him in the final.  He looked a pale shadow of himself from February onwards, one goal in the final 3 months of the season and possessed nothing like the threat of previous months.

He hadn't started the previous 3 games but came on in all, still looking jaded in each appearance.  His withdrawal in the final wasn't due to his ongoing injuries but 18 years on I'm still annoyed Slade made that decision.  That one and persisted with Junior bloody Mendes.

Possibly the most deflated I’ve ever been after a town game. Oh and Northampton at home a few weeks earlier.

All completely avoidable if the rumours are anything to go by.

I seem to recall Slade ran the poor fella into the ground toward the end of the season, without rest or adequate treatment to a niggling injury.

Unfortunately, Reddy was screwed by the time the end of the season came about. I seem to recall some sort of mention of him having his hip shaved or something that summer, to try and treat his injury problems? No surprise that he never really came back after that and had to retire so early.

A real shame as that pace was a fearsome weapon and he could have gone on to have a really good career if he had been fit. I was at the Darlington game where I seem to think he made his debut off the bench? I remember a ball being played through but massively overhit and thinking he couldn't get anywhere near it, but he reached the ball about the same time as their keeper. The only time I recall being startled by the sheer pace of one of our players. Quick Mick Boulding was fast with the ball at his feet but I've never seen anything like the acceleration of Reddy before or since.

I actually met Michael Reddy around the time of that playoff final, he came into a bar I was working at in town with his girlfriend. I tried to play it cool and said “oh, you’re Michael Reddy aren’t you?” To which he replied “I used to be”, which I suppose gave an insight into his mindset in the lead up to that game. I’d also add that he was an absolutely lovely bloke as well. He actually stayed at the bar and chatted with me and some regulars for a good 5-10 minutes while his missus sat waiting. I tried to offer him a drink on the house but he refused and insisted he buy me one instead. He popped in a few times after that and always had time for a quick chat.

Quoted from jimgtfc

I actually met Michael Reddy around the time of that playoff final, he came into a bar I was working at in town with his girlfriend. I tried to play it cool and said “oh, you’re Michael Reddy aren’t you?” To which he replied “I used to be”

That's an almost cinematically sad anecdote, assuming it's true.

The only games my Mrs ever came to in the 19 years we been together.

Why of why did Slade prefer Mendes to Cohen I'll never know and apart from the odd game or so after a sad end to Ready's football career.

We were rubbish that day. I've never being convinced though that this was the great turning point many think it was. I think we were always heading to non-league under the Fenty. We would have been relegated pretty quickly from league 1 and then we know how Fenty operated in League 2. It may have put it back by a season or two, but his disastrous stewardship of the club was the reason we went into non-league - I can't see how it would make any difference.

Quoted from Maringer

Unfortunately, Reddy was screwed by the time the end of the season came about. I seem to recall some sort of mention of him having his hip shaved or something that summer, to try and treat his injury problems? No surprise that he never really came back after that and had to retire so early.

A real shame as that pace was a fearsome weapon and he could have gone on to have a really good career if he had been fit. I was at the Darlington game where I seem to think he made his debut off the bench? I remember a ball being played through but massively overhit and thinking he couldn't get anywhere near it, but he reached the ball about the same time as their keeper. The only time I recall being startled by the sheer pace of one of our players. Quick Mick Boulding was fast with the ball at his feet but I've never seen anything like the acceleration of Reddy before or since.

Yep.  Just pure explosion.  The highlight reel of his Town goals is frightening.  It's absolutely basic but he was just so much stronger and faster than the defenders trying (and failing) to stop him.

In terms of how much better he was than everyone else, that six-month spell at the start of 05/06 is the best I've ever seen from a Town striker.  There are no two ways about it, he stays properly fit and we win the title that year.  

Remember that final well. Another refereeing disision that went against us at 0-0 ,when Parkinson was sent sprawling in the area. Clear penalty to everyone in the stadium and those watching on TV but the ref didn't give it.

Quoted from Poojah

That's an almost cinematically sad anecdote, assuming it's true.

It’s very true, wasn’t quite the response I was expecting.

Quoted from Maringer

Unfortunately, Reddy was screwed by the time the end of the season came about. I seem to recall some sort of mention of him having his hip shaved or something that summer, to try and treat his injury problems? No surprise that he never really came back after that and had to retire so early.

A real shame as that pace was a fearsome weapon and he could have gone on to have a really good career if he had been fit. I was at the Darlington game where I seem to think he made his debut off the bench? I remember a ball being played through but massively overhit and thinking he couldn't get anywhere near it, but he reached the ball about the same time as their keeper. The only time I recall being startled by the sheer pace of one of our players. Quick Mick Boulding was fast with the ball at his feet but I've never seen anything like the acceleration of Reddy before or since.

Cohen was interviewed on that dn35 podcast and said he was a shade quicker than Reddy, but Reddy was definitely quicker running with the ball.

I think I remember something about Gary Cohen having the choice between athletics and football and he chose football?

It’s amazing how far you can get in L2 if you some genuine pace and power in the side which is something Hurst never added in any of his transfer windows with us. Even in the NL he never signed an actually quick player did he?

Loved Reddy, what a player.

Quoted from mariner91

It’s amazing how far you can get in L2 if you some genuine pace and power in the side which is something Hurst never added in any of his transfer windows with us. Even in the NL he never signed an actually quick player did he?

Loved Reddy, what a player.

I'd of said Sousa was pretty quick

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

I'd of said Sousa was pretty quick

Jack Mackreth, too.

Mackreth definitely was quick because we’d seen it playing against us. When playing for us though my overriding memory is him turning back and playing it safe, don’t really recall him ever really going at the opposition. Sousa was nippy but not the out and out sheer pace that Reddy and Cohen had.

Even then, Hurst was here for 9 pre-season transfer windows. And it’s a struggle to name more than two quick players he signed. Always seemed strange to me that it was something he obviously didn’t value.

Peter Till was pretty quick.  Agree about Mackreth was chuffed we signed him, and likewise never saw him take anyone on, maybe it was playing in front of a bigger attendance than Barrow.

To dispel the myth that 'all you need to flourish at this level is sheer pace' I give you Serge Makofo.

He was rapid, but also totally clueless. No football intelligence whatsoever. Three year deal. Peak Fenty.

Quoted from mariner91

It’s amazing how far you can get in L2 if you some genuine pace and power in the side which is something Hurst never added in any of his transfer windows with us. Even in the NL he never signed an actually quick player did he?

Loved Reddy, what a player.

Did you never see Liam Hearn

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Did you never see Liam Hearn

Yes I did. He wasn’t a slouch but he wasn’t quick either. He had good acceleration over a short distance and was good at going past a man but wasn’t quick over longer distances.

I'd say Hearn was more of a powerful runner than quick.  He was good at surging with the ball, in tight areas and often through or round players.  He wasn't ever going to win much in a foot race though.  Mackreth was quick as hell when he played against us, yet when he came here he seemed to have lost a yard or we definitely didn't play to his strengths.

To my memory the quickest player Hurst signed was Tom Bolarinwa.  A player who genuinely had those turbo boosters to knock it past a man and show them clean heels.   I always liked him and thought he was incredibly useful on the rare occasions when he played down the middle.  But I always presumed his end product wasn't the best, in either position.  A quick look on transfermarkt shows his only full season here (16/17) brought 8 assists and 2 goals from 34 games with only 16 of those as starts.  If we're talking goal contributions per minute on the pitch it's 1 every 173 minutes.  Not too shabby at all!

Hearn simply wasn't at all quick. It was one of the things people have always claimed about him, but he simply wasn't particularly pacy.

He beat men by moving the ball past the defenders cleverly with deceptive movement. Got them going one way while he went the other. A skilful player and good goalscorer who would have had a much better career but for his injury problems (which is a recurring theme with players mentioned in this thread).

I always think it's a shame most of Hearn's goals were scored with those rubbish Fila balls.