Don’t want the fairytale to end.....

Everything that Ollie has done so far has been nothing short of remarkable. The players he’s signed, the positivity and passion he’s brought, the style and identity that we are forming too.

He has swept the town off it’s feet since his arrival and I really hope that it continues with the same momentum. I hope this doesn’t change, once he’s started attending the Board meetings with Squeaky!!

One thing I did pick up on today, which was an absence of the normal, was that he shook hands with the opposition management team and headed straight down the tunnel. Very unusual for him.

Long may his presence continue, he’s brought the feel good factor well and truly back!! What an inspirational fella!!

UTMM

I think he likes the passion here and with his determination and spirit, he is here for the long haul which is the vibe he is giving off.

Let's get the new ground  built and see how far he can take us, we needed someone to believe in, along comes Ollie, we need a new ground, Freeman Street is in the heart of the Town history, come Fenty you can do it.

I’m still surprised how few were there yesterday. I know the weather must have had some influence, and it takes time for lapsed supporters to return, but still surprised.
If we carry on playing like this, we must be getting sellouts very soon surely.

Made a quick exit because his wife was in the stands I suppose, that would seem to be a normal thing to do

Quoted from NorthseaMariner

I’m still surprised how few were there yesterday. I know the weather must have had some influence, and it takes time for lapsed supporters to return, but still surprised.
If we carry on playing like this, we must be getting sellouts very soon surely.

When was the last time we had a sell out for any match? Don’t even think the PO semis in the conference were sold out.

If we had been playing a team with anything close to a standard away following you’d be looking at 5k which isn’t bad given the conditions.

Still surprised how bad away attendances are in this league, absolutely pathetic on the whole. How many times have we had over 500?

Sorry, I am referring to home sellouts.

He lacked his usually energy in the post match interview.  Maybe he's under the weather.  After all, he's only human, isn't he?

Quoted from Garth

Made a quick exit because his wife was in the stands I suppose, that would seem to be a normal thing to do

He'd promised Kim he would take her to look around a charity shop, before it shut.  

I wish that we were playing Chelsea next week with this team and our new attacking-style.  With Robson as well.  With Ollie we would give a much better account of ourselves.   There would be respect for Chelsea but little or no fear.  We would take the game to the when we could.

This is how far we how come in such a short time.  I have to pinch myself to see the quality of new players brought in.  And the improvement in the existing players.  Not sure how Ollie and the team have achieved this.

Bring on next season!  We have hope and excitement again.

Love the bloke, he's a breath of fresh air after the last couple of inept managers we've had at the club. I bet it's great to play under him if you're the sort of lad that wants to give his all. We've improved beyond recognition, the lads he's brought in have improved the first eleven, we have a proper gameplan and we are playing incisive attacking football. But, sorry there is a but we haven't achieved anything yet. I'm confident Ollie will do wonders at the club but let's save the 'fairytail' stuff until we are in League One at least! Until then, give him and the team our full support, do our bit and I'm confident we have a real future and our twenty years of hell will be at an end. UTM!

He’s added 1000 to the gate we had for the Crawley game. It’s going to take a while to get people going again but it will happen if we continue improving. Mates who don’t go are at least talking about it which is a good sign

My brother was taking his Grandson until the weather struck and he had a change of heart. I suspect there will have been a few waiverers put off by the wind and rain. 4700 with no away fans and strong wind/rain is pretty good for this league i think. Under the previous regime, think it would have been 3700 ish.

The thing for me as wall as great enthusiasm, infectious personalty and being accessible & approachable Ian Holloway is one clever f****r. He seems to completely understand what he was taking over and what needs to happen on and off the pitch and is prepared to take full accountability in making it happen.

According to the offical site our home capacity is 6893.


In the home games since Holloway has been in the building we've had the following uptake of home capacity, again provided by the figures quoted on the official site.

Morecambe - 67.33%
FGR - 66.72%
Stevenage - 60.26%
Exeter - 84.74%
Salford - 64.08

Prior to that the Crawley game was 51.85% with the Scunthorpe game, unsurprisingly, clocking 81.97% - although not as high as that for the Exeter game.

Even going back to the opening home game against Bradford with sky high optimism, we only recorded 73.97% of home capacity.

I suppose just from looking at the numbers, which doesn't take into account a number of other factors such as time of the month (for payday), the weather etc. the Holloway factor peaked for the Exeter game before dropping off with a gradual recovery since.  From memory the Stevenage game wasn't a particularly cold evening but a night game in January is never going to appeal to everyone.  

The question is, as ska face, alludes to - is there a glass ceiling for this club when it comes to numbers?  Go back to the Buckley Mk I days and he was very vocal about his frustrations that we were playing big sleeping giant type clubs off the park yet struggled to pull 5,000 in.

Is it the cost of the ticket for the local person?  Does the lack of a stadium experience really put that many people of?  There's quite clearly a local appetite for this club at the moment.  I've lost count of the number of people who have a very fleeting interest in the club yet are asking questions now.  You can't buy that.   It's essential that the club tap into this Holloway factor in a way that's organic and doesn't disrupt the natural connection the man has with the people, I think we all grew a bit suspicious of Jolley selling season tickets.  The bloke recognised that we needed to do something a little bit different though and fair play to him for having a go at it.  Unfortunately he just didn't have that natural charisma that Holloway has.  

https://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/tickets/first-time-visitor/