LET'S CHEER UP GRIMSBY TOWN FANS WITH MCMENEMY ERA PIX BY BRIGG PHOTOGRAPHER

Matt Tees in action for Grimsby Town at Blundell Park during the 1971/2 championship-winning season,  PICTURE: KEN FISHER ARCHIVE

Grimsby Town fans are feeling down after that disappointing defeat at Halifax, but Brigg Blog today makes an attempt to lift the spirits of Mariners' fans by remembering the great 1971/2 season when Lawrie McMenemy's men clinched the Division Four title with a very exciting brand of attacking football.
'Master Mariner' Matt Tees, flying winger Stuart Brace and attacking midfielder Mike Hickman banged in 60 goals between them, but long-serving keeper Harry Wainman was player of the year. As so many Town team members pressed forward, he was often left unprotected from counter-attacks, and worked wonders.
There was a Brigg Branch of the Grimsby Town Supporters' Club back then that ran a coach to all home matches. It did so from the 1950s until about 1983, picking up passengers in Bridge Street, Cary Lane and on Wrawby Road, opposite the cemetery.
We waited on the steps of the cinema just outside the ground to get picked up for the return journey that went via Keelby, Grasby, Owmby, Searby, Barnetby and Wrawby. Daisy, of Broughton, provided the coaches.
After the McMenemy era, on one memorable occasion, the manager, John Newman, came out to the Cross Keys at Grasby to attend the Brigg Branch AGM and present a well-deserved award to long-serving bus steward Sam Briggs, of Almond Grove. 
On a couple of occasions, Brigg fans went to major away matches by special train. Sadly, all requests for a stop in Brigg or Barnetby failed and we had to trek to Cleethorpes to get on a train that then tooted its way through Brigg! One of these matches, I think, was an FA Cup-tie at mighty Liverpool (January 1980?).

Stuart Brace (second left), Mike Hickman (nearest camera) and Dave Boylen (No 10) playing for Grimsby Town during the 1971/2 season when they finished top of Division Four and banged in 88 goals.  PICTURE: KEN FISHER ARCHIVE

Matt Tees towards the end of his career  - playing at Brigg Town. PICTURE: KEN FISHER ARCHIVE