Mentioned Part 21

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 21/06/2001 (Last updated: 17/01/2026)

"No disrespect to the likes of Grimsby..."

18/02/2001 - Grimsby to host Olympics!

From Talk Sport Breakfast Show

On Alan Brazils Talk Sport Breakfast Show, they were taking about Mike Parry's opinion that England shouldn't host the Olympics, and read out an email:-

"That Mike Parry talks a load of toilet. If Greece can get it then Grimsby could hold it. "

Presumably at Bradley pitches.

Spotted by Nigel Winn.

17/03/2001 - The BBC gets in wrong (twice!)

From BBC 2, "I Love 1988"

A section on the oh-so zany craze for inflatables at football matches. The talking head (Jim White of the Guardian who is, of course, a Moan Utd supporter) reminisced about Imre Varadi (the source of the craze - Imre Banana). They cut to a scene from the Wimbledon Cup game and a sea of Harry Haddocks with a voiceover in which he referred to the fans taking inflatable cod to the games as "Grimsby are known as the Trawlermen".

Spotted by Tony Butcher.

17/03/2001 - Grimsby Here We Come!

From the Coventry Evening Telegraph

Coventry City fans were not used to this - rolling up to the final game of a season with no hope and nothing to play for.

They were not quite sure how to react and it showed.

If Villa Park two weeks earlier was the scene of high emotion, anger and desperation, then Highfield Road on the last day of top-flight football (for a year anyway) showed all the signs of resignation and weariness.

There had been talk of mass protests before the game. On my way in I was asked how long it would be before the strains of "Strachan Out" rang around the ground.

The fan who asked the question answered it himself, saying, "Ten minutes...I'll be starting it. "

But 10 minutes came and went with no chanting. In fact there was barely a whimper.

There were some dissenting voices and one man turned the air a shade of blue not of the sky variety as he left as quickly as he had arrived.

A banner asking "Are You Happy Richardson? We're Not" was unfurled but it was outnumbered by others of the variety "City 'til I Die" and "Division One Champions 2002".

It summed up the resilient mood of the greater part of the crowd who, although never suffering relegation, had known adversity. It goes with being a Sky Blue supporter.

And then a rasping long shot loosened the vocal chords and 15 minutes into the game the first choruses of the Sky Blue song thundered out.

From then on the game became a secondary point as the crowd began to have some fun.

It was led by the Bradford fans - they've known First Division football before and were quicker to accept it.

They began a Mexican wave. It was resisted at first by the City faithful but they were kindred spirits after all and soon it swept around the ground.

And suddenly the City fans had also accepted their fate and with it came the kind of dark humour needed in such situations. Doris Day's Que Sera Sera was altered to end in "We're going to Grimsby".

The final whistle was greeted with boos and airborne season tickets - quickly replaced with applause.

The sentiment was best summed up by fan John McGrath, of Wyken, Coventry, who said: "I'm reluctant to come back. I really don't want to - but it's in the blood. I can't help it. I'll be back."

Spotted by Jostein Jensen.

23/05/2001 - Five Worst Players Of The Season

From the Guardian Unlimited

This all too accurate comparison was taken from the Guardian Unlimited's Five Worst Players Of The Season Poll won.

In fourth place is "that girl who plays in goal for Man City", Nicky Weaver. Presumably scandalised by the revelations of boozing and fag-smoking at City under Joe Royle, Nicky had a bit of a stinker this year. Unlike the year before, of course, when Royle, who tipped City for a EUFA Cup spot this year, reckoned that Weaver was England material. "How he'll liven up Division One again this year with his out-of-the-box sprints," writes Si Wilson. "He spends so much time out of the box I'd mistaken him for a Grimsby forward."

Spotted by Duncan Butler.

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