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The View From the Railway Bridge

8 January 2025

This week’s episode of The View from the Findus podcast features an interview with The I paper’s Senior Chief Football Writer, Daniel Storey. If you weren’t aware, he is "Doing the 92," attempting to visit every English league club within a single season. His write-up from his recent visit to Blundell Park for the Port Vale game prompted the eyebrow-raising headline: “My pilgrimage to Grimsby and the best football ground in England.”

I’m always wary of how the national press covers Town. Unless the piece is written by Jason Stockwood, the same tired cliches often surface: deprivation, crime, drugs, the loss of industry. While these themes may hold some truth, they’ve been rehashed countless times. However, Daniel Storey’s article transcends those stereotypes. Instead, it delves into the qualities that make Blundell Park distinctive and special.

I particularly resonated with his description of the view from Fuller Street Railway Bridge. Fans of other clubs might raise an eyebrow at the claim that it offers the best view in football, but for me, it’s undeniable. Storey’s depiction of the terraced houses, the floodlights, and the Findus Stand as cultural heritage struck a chord. But for those of us who grew up with Grimsby Town, it’s more than that — it’s a window into our own personal heritage and history.

In my case, both my dad and my great-grandparents lived in the streets visible from that railway bridge. My dad’s home on Harrington Street was a chaotic but magical place. A huge, three-storey corner terrace, it was shared with my stepmum, much older stepbrothers, their girlfriends and kids, and a revolving cast of lodgers and pets. At various times, this included a giant, a punk, a teenage mother and baby, multiple French exchange students, and a menagerie of cats and dogs.

Despite the chaos, I loved my weekend visits. From the moment I arrived, it was all about football. Living so close to the ground, my dad never missed a game, and Blundell Park became the place where we truly bonded as father and son.

In contrast to my dad’s house, my great grandparent’s home around the corner was much more peaceful. The quiet was only punctuated by a Grandfather clock that ticked and chimed for the entirety of the 70-odd years that they lived there. I remember my great-grandad as being kind and gentle, yet a life spent as a trawlerman and minesweeper in World War Two suggest a toughness that I couldn’t ever truly comprehend. He didn’t like football much but after he passed away, my great-grandmother took up supporting Town as a new hobby. She followed every game avidly on Radio Humberside despite living across the road from the football ground she never set foot in. I realise now that however conscious a decision it was, choosing to support Town was a way to connect with her remaining family. She and I, both football novices at the time - me at seven, her in her eighties - spent hours chatting about that first Alan Buckley team while she plied me with cake and cordial.

I know there’s a danger here of sounding overly sentimental, but I can’t visit Blundell Park without a tinge of sadness for those no longer here. I know that is a feeling that is shared by many Town fans. For me, the view from the railway bridge isn’t just about the ground or the game — it’s about the people who shaped my love for Grimsby Town. It’s a connection to family and memory, and the shared moments that define who we are. So fair play to Daniel Storey. He is one of few national football journalists that has been able to understand why Blundell Park is so special.