Dale head to Grimsby on Tuesday evening in the League Cup, and we've got a Grimsby fan to tell us all about his club.

1)Who are you and how long have you been supporting Grimsby?
I'm Richard Young, my first game was a 1-0 victory over Swansea on Saturday October 6th 1990. Coincidently this also ended up being the same day I got married.....so this date is bittersweet

2)What makes supporting Grimsby different to any other club?
Being a one club town, the support is small but extremely loyal. Our away following is amongst the highest percentage in the country when compared with our average home gate. Plus we have played 'away' from Grimsby for over 100 years.

3)New manager Michael Jolley — how do your fans feel about him?
The general feeling is that Jolley has really galvanised the support. He took over a team who had failed to win in nearly 20 games last season and ended the season positively. He has made a real effort to move into the community and engage with the support. Something many fans have never seen with any manager of the past.

4)You recently spent six years in the Conference — what was that like?
For the first 3 seasons, it was fairly bleak. Going from being a Championship side to losing to Chasetown in an FA Trophy game or being spanked 5-0 at Braintree within 10 years was the lowest of lows however slowly we assembled a squad to be proud of. Losing in the play off final to Bristol Rovers on penalties was heart breaking but the support got together and raised over £100,000 for the playing budget for the next season and we beat FGR in the following season's play off.

5)From an outsider’s point of view, Grimsby just seem to have been left behind as a club. Is that a fair reflection and why is that?
Hindsight is golden......when we were a Championship side, we were still only averaging gates of 5000. You don't know what you have until it's gone and maybe we just didn't realise how good we did have it. Not only from a supporters view but from boardroom level as well.

6)Who will be our biggest threat on Tuesday evening?
Charles Vernham, signed from Derby in the summer, born locally, looks a real handful, works hard and scored his first of the season on Saturday

7)What would constitute a good season for Grimsby?
Mid table to play offs with a cheeky cup run thrown in

8)Name your all time Grimsby x1?
GK: Danny Coyne
RB: John McDermott (over 700 appearances for the club)
LB: Gary Croft
CB: Paul Futcher
CB: Peter Handyside

RW: Kevin Donavan
LW: Ivano Bonetti
CM: Paul Groves
CM: Wayne Burnett

FW: Clive Mendonca
FW; Padraig Amond

9)Any thoughts on Rochdale?
A proper club but who have done extremely well to reach the levels you have. Though I'm a little bitter about the time the game at Spotland got abandoned at half time on New Years Day when I had a stinking hangover....

10)Prediction for the game?
Penalties...but can't call a winner

Photo: Action Images

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