Opposition View: Notts County vs. Grimsby Town, Saturday 16 December 2017

Notts County have successfully navigated the crunch clash with Luton Town last weekend, now we're back at Meadow Lane this weekend as we take on Grimsby Town.

The Mariners have enjoyed a decent enough season so far, sitting 11th in the table with nine wins, five draws and seven defeats.

Pride of Nottingham spoke to Grimsby fan Steve to get an insight on the opposition.

About Steve: Been a fan since the 90s and my favourite player of all time is John McDermott.

1) Grimsby spent six years in the non-league before coming back up. What led to your drop into the Conference and how did you eventually climb back up?

Financial problems at the start of the 2000s were the beginning of the rot, we plummeted down the leagues, and then in 2009-10 several disastrous decisions - giving our youth team coach the permanent job, moving Barry Conlon on - saw us down into non-league, which is a notoriously difficult league to get out of.

2) Blundell Park is famously situated in Cleethorpes rather than Grimsby. Is this something that fans currently talk/moan about or is it no big deal?

Not really. The name Grimsby Town goes back to the 19th century and the move to Blundell Park was made on the turn of the century, so it's just how it's always been.

3) There was some uproar from a number of Grimbarians about that Sacha Baron Cohen film named after your town when it came out. What was the general consensus from Mariners fans about it?

Opinions were split fairly even to be fair. Some people were offended at being depicted as typical "Northern" (in the Southerner definition of the word ie North of the Watford Gap) slobs, others were annoyed the town barely featured, but me and a lot of others just thought it was a laugh (not as good as his other films though) and kind of basked in the limelight for a bit.

4) Thomas Turgoose, the actor who made a name for himself in Nottingham-filmed This Is England, is a big Grimsby fan. Have you or any of your friends ever met him and what's he like in terms of supporting the club?

Can't say I do I'm afraid, but I'm a big fan of TIE - the film and the shows - proper telly (or cinema), maybe Cohen could have a word of two with Shane Meadows!

5) Who are your biggest rivals and, if a different team, who have been your most recent rivals?

Hull City are our main rivals but we haven't met in competitive games, cup or league, since the 1990s. More recently it's been Lincoln City, we've battled plenty of times in league (and non-league) so it's good to see them back.

6) Who are your team's danger men? And what do you think the score/scorers will be?

Luke Summerfield is a creative midfielder who likes to get forward and is very direct, he'll be a threat. Sam Jones is also going to be a handful - he's a striker who's really good at ghosting  inbehind the opposition defence. And I think it'll end 1-1, Jones to get our goal.

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