“We’re an ambitious little football club,” the Grimsby Town manager, David Artell, says. “Why can’t we be the next Bournemouth or Brentford?” It is an indication that Manchester United will not be visiting your average League Two side in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, because the Mariners are doing things differently.
Artell has spent recent summers scouting in the Faroe Islands – and eating sea urchins with the owners – and tried to sign a player from the Czech league this year. The tone is set at the top by the owners, Andrew Pettit and Jason Stockwood. There is data aplenty at Blundell Park, giving Grimsby an identity and bringing stability, a word sometimes forgotten in the fourth tier. United will be facing an unbeaten team high on confidence and with a long-term strategy to keep pushing them forward.
