25 years ago

Atkins was the worst loser ever after the game as well. Claimed they had been the better team, everything had gone our way, etc etc. They really were as basic a route one team as you could expect to see.

They had our then less sizeable chum in net to .Sure Eddie Howe played for Bournemouth in the Auto to ?
Great days for those of us who were around,  hopefully now with brighter skies this younger generation will get to see some success like back then . We really did have a great team to , 4-4-2 Sir Alans  standard -everybody knew their roles down to the finest detail and we were a fine side to watch ; even outside the club Grimsby were 'a good footballing side ' sort of a badge of honour .

I remember the West End had Mariners everywhere the night before the game , every bar we went to was full of Grimsby .
I didn’t see one Bournmouth fan until the day of the game .
We stayed at the Wembley Hilton and that was rocking all night in the bar when we came back from a night out .
On the day of the game we met at a sports club in Edmonton that a lad from Grimsby used to run , it was opened at 8 in the morning and full of Grimsby.
They even laid a couple of Strippers on for all the lads which led to a funny scene when dozens of coppers arrived and there was a girl fully naked in a compromising position on the pool table.
The police just shook their heads and asked us to board some open top busses and have us a full escort to Wembley with us all on the top decks singing all the way

Bournemouth game can remember getting to the Torch  before it opened and sat on car park wall with cans from shop just up the road .....ended up sitting there till kick off  with numerous cans from the shop .....think the only time i went in the torch was for the toilet ......the car park ended up packed weather was sunny     all town fans jeering  the bill/traffic wardens as they hoisted a car on to back of a flat bed  for parking wrong

I’d just finished uni and was working at bootlegger in meggies but had already told them I had plans for the Bournemouth game. They said I couldn’t have the Northampton game off and told me to not even bother phoning in sick! So I didn’t!

I’d seen England play at Wembley a fair few times prior to the Bournemouth game, but nothing will ever beat how proud I was of seeing town there the first time. I was with my best mates, the same ones that I’d been with watching town in front of 3500-4000 fans, and town were now playing at the home of football. I get emotional thinking about those 6 weeks now

I went to both, the Northampton fans were a horrible set

Quoted from supertown

I went to both, the Northampton fans were a horrible set

Indeed (also went to both) on the way out of Wembley vs Northampton, we was slow boating along due to traffic and pulled up next to a pub with Northampton fans drinking their sorrows away, then we stopped and a few fans on the coach were giving it the large one as you do, only for the Northampton fans to literally throw everything at the coach (bottles, cans, coins etc) i thought we was done for then as they started to get closer the coach pulled off just in time, thank fook haha.

The Torch is that when Alan Pouton made an appearance.

Quoted from Poojah

Wasn’t the bulk of it for the lengthy stoppage after Aidan Davison got ko’d?

They were a horrible team, Northampton, playing in the image of their manager Ian Atkins. They were all about set pieces and big balls into big John Gayle, but Davo came for everything that day and completely nullified their threat. An absolute warrior, and a great goalkeeper.

Aidy was consistency personified that season , not a stand out keeper for flashy saves but was a superb organiser and commander of his box , I am always suprised when 'top town keepers ' are mentioned his name is not up there -maybe just because he went about his work in an unprecedented way and unfortunately part 2 put a bit of a dampener on things for some .

It's interesting how he came over on the pitch was a calm and assuring character, yet as a bloke he is actually the complete opposite a lively character ,i have heard a couple of podcasts with him and he is a jack the lad ; it's funny how you perceive certain players to be a certain way with their demeanour on the pitch ,whereas off it sometimes they are a lot different .

I seem to remember the figure of 53,000 for the two visits. Touching 30,000 for the first game and around 24,000 a few weeks later. Stayed in the Wembley Hilton the night before the first and Covent Garden was bedlam, ending in us filling the Hilton bar at 2am with loud singing. Next morning five live were in the breakfast area interviewing Rob Andrew and the Newcastle rugby team - he was saying how they thought the hotel was full of Newcastle until they were still awake at 2am with the noise of Town fans