26 games in

Including the FA Cup game which we lost to a team that currently sit 16th in non-league

we have played 26 games, we've scored more than 1 goal on 3 occasions...

Cheltenham 1-3 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Edwards,Tilley, Windsor - none of which play for us anymore

Leyton Orient 2-3 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Waterfall. Williams, Gibson(p)

Crawley 1-2 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Green, Wright

All 3 away from home, against 7th, 9th, 12th.... so good, league 2 teams

We've also conceded 46 goals in them 26 games

Take away anything from these stats, but to me, they show it's possible..
But they also show, big big problems

We are just over half way through the season.
At the half way point, we had 20 points.
If we repeat that, we will have 40 points...

Barring last season which didn't finish, we would of been..

13/14 - 24th - needed 51pts
14/15 - 23rd - needed 42pts
15/16 - 22nd - needed 35pts
16/17 - 23rd - needed 47pts
17/18 - 23rd - needed 47pts
18/19 - 23rd - needed 42pts

Relegated every season, except 15/16

The Jolley season, 17/18
after 25 games, we had 34 points, and comfortably mid-table.
Jolley took over Just before the Carlisle game, but physically managed us the game after.

We went 20 games without a win, collecting 6 points!
we won 4, drew 1 of the last 5 games, which kept us up...

Our top scorer that season had
Rose 8 - not sure how many pens
J J Hooper 8 - 3 on the last day

A lot of this is waffle, and means nothing, just trying to make myself feel better about the 2nd half of the season to be honest...

But it's not over, until its mathmatically impossible

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Including the FA Cup game which we lost to a team that currently sit 16th in non-league

we have played 26 games, we've scored more than 1 goal on 3 occasions...

Cheltenham 1-3 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Edwards,Tilley, Windsor - none of which play for us anymore

Leyton Orient 2-3 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Waterfall. Williams, Gibson(p)

Crawley 1-2 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Green, Wright

All 3 away from home, against 7th, 9th, 12th.... so good, league 2 teams

We've also conceded 46 goals in them 26 games

Take away anything from these stats, but to me, they show it's possible..
But they also show, big big problems

We are just over half way through the season.
At the half way point, we had 20 points.
If we repeat that, we will have 40 points...

Barring last season which didn't finish, we would of been..

13/14 - 24th - needed 51pts
14/15 - 23rd - needed 42pts
15/16 - 22nd - needed 35pts
16/17 - 23rd - needed 47pts
17/18 - 23rd - needed 47pts
18/19 - 23rd - needed 42pts

Relegated every season, except 15/16

The Jolley season, 17/18
after 25 games, we had 34 points, and comfortably mid-table.
Jolley took over Just before the Carlisle game, but physically managed us the game after.

We went 20 games without a win, collecting 6 points!
we won 4, drew 1 of the last 5 games, which kept us up...

Our top scorer that season had
Rose 8 - not sure how many pens
J J Hooper 8 - 3 on the last day

A lot of this is waffle, and means nothing, just trying to make myself feel better about the 2nd half of the season to be honest...

But it's not over, until its mathmatically impossible

I see what you are saying, but on the other hand, this is the worst Town team ever and has gradually been getting worse over the last 3 months.

We are now comically bad; it is up to the manager and existing players to sort themselves out, backed up hopefully by some decent signings this week.

Some previously decent players are just going through the motions and it is a disgrace.

All good points and it's really easy to forget that we've got 21 games left.  There's still plenty of time to turn it around, more than enough games to come.

But after Saturday, I'm worried for the first time.  The lack of quality has always been an issue, but I felt comfortable that Hurst would organise the side to a level that made us very difficult to beat and scrape enough 1-0 wins to move up the table.

However, the performance against Scunny showed us a side that hadn't crept in yet.  The players are done.  This squad is on its bottom, too many of them look like they've given up the battle.  It's not simply a case of giving them a rocket up the bottom and expecting them to respond accordingly.  

The parallel I draw is the one when Neil Woods took over.  A team lacking quality, balance and confidence.  One that needed rebuilding mid-season, the bad apples rooting out and a new ethos, spirit and confidence installing.  

Now I don't think Hurst has any bad apples in there, more guys who are just not in the right frame of mind for a dogged battle.  But they still need getting rid of.   The biggest problem is that Woods had 3 months extra to do this and still came up short.  Hurst has a week left of the transfer window to do a root and branch approach to keeping us up.

That interview with Hurst smacked of the realisation of what he's taken on.  I believe he came in thinking he could organise this squad into survival.  It's going to take a lot more than that.

The addition of Matete looks to be, albeit based on a single game, exactly what we need.  Someone who's fresh, fearless and not drained of confidence.  These attributes are also backed up by a bit of quality too.  If Hurst can bring in 4 or 5 players of a similar ilk, me might have a chance.  But the biggest battle is going to be against the mindset that's in that dressing room.

Wouldn't surprise me if we see a lot of players leaving the club in the next few days.  In all honesty, there's not a single player in that squad who any of us can legitimately say we will miss.

We have arguably lost some of the more effective players from earlier in the season including Edwards, Windsor, and occasionally Taylor and Tilley.

However, I think the three recent signing are improvements, and I am sure that we will see more new faces, especially in midfield and attack. Plus we now have a few of the better players back from injury. That helps.

So the number and quality of signings in the next week is crucial. I think we will have a better idea of our prospects once the window has closed and we can evaluate what we have.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Including the FA Cup game which we lost to a team that currently sit 16th in non-league

we have played 26 games, we've scored more than 1 goal on 3 occasions...

Cheltenham 1-3 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Edwards,Tilley, Windsor - none of which play for us anymore

Leyton Orient 2-3 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Waterfall. Williams, Gibson(p)

Crawley 1-2 Grimsby
Goalscorers: Green, Wright

All 3 away from home, against 7th, 9th, 12th.... so good, league 2 teams

We've also conceded 46 goals in them 26 games

Take away anything from these stats, but to me, they show it's possible..
But they also show, big big problems

We are just over half way through the season.
At the half way point, we had 20 points.
If we repeat that, we will have 40 points...

Barring last season which didn't finish, we would of been..

13/14 - 24th - needed 51pts
14/15 - 23rd - needed 42pts
15/16 - 22nd - needed 35pts
16/17 - 23rd - needed 47pts
17/18 - 23rd - needed 47pts
18/19 - 23rd - needed 42pts

Relegated every season, except 15/16

If I was to take anything from those stats it would be we would finish well adrift of third from bottom.

This season is completely different, I think the safety margin will be higher as teams still seem to be throwing up shock wins or shock losses on a regular basis.
The lack of crowds has played a huge part IMO...


Not as big a part as Holloway did by assembling an eclectic mix of a terrible  squad ...but still a big part.

I believe that eight of our current squad are contracted for next season - Jackson, Macca, Williams, Wright, Rose, Scannell,   including Russell & Gibson who are on contract until the end of the 22/23 season!
I imagine it will cost a few bob to clear the decks?