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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jason Stockwood

Yes, data helped Grimsby to stay up but love and connection kept us going

Grimsby faced the threat of relegation for months but the 2-0 win against Swindon (above) confirmed the club’s survival.
Grimsby faced the threat of relegation for months but the 2-0 win against Swindon (above) confirmed the club’s survival. Photograph: Jez Tighe/ProSports/Shutterstock

During lockdown, many turned to baking exotic sourdough or participating in one-time Zoom quizzes. I, however, created an animation with my kids to explore how the mind works, emphasising emotion and intuition as life’s dominant forces. The philosopher Jonathan Haidt uses the elephant and rider metaphor to illustrate this: the elephant represents our emotional, instinctive self, full of raw passion, while the rider symbolises our rational mind, often struggling to control this surge of emotions.

Since September emotion has been the dominant force in my universe. At Grimsby Town, we’ve spent seven months circling the drain of relegation and only in our penultimate game of the season against Swindon Town did a plug of mathematical certainty finally go in.

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