‘I felt like I was dreaming, honestly,” said Wayne Brightmore, 49, after watching Grimsby Town, the football club he has supported since he was a boy, pull off a historic win by beating one of the biggest teams in the world.
“Seeing us beat Manchester United at Blundell Park didn’t feel real,” he said. “It’s dreamland for us, we couldn’t have imagined anything better.”
For Brightmore, who is the chair of Mariners Trust, the club’s supporters’ group, and the other 9,000-odd fans that filled Blundell Park, the second round Carabao Cup tie result – a 12-11 win on penalties after drawing 2-2 during normal time – represented a peak for their football club that won’t be equalled for some time.
“The pride in the town right now is immense, to knock someone of Man United’s stature out of the cup is something we couldn’t have imagined. It’s as big as it’s gotten for me as a supporter,” said Brightmore, who lived behind the team’s stadium as a boy and growing up, watched its games through his window.
Last night was the best day of his life, he said. “I said to my mate before, and I meant it, if that was the last match I ever watched and I died tomorrow, I could die a very happy man.”
Grimsby play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football and three divisions lower than Manchester United – who have spent £200m on players this summer. Grimsby stunned the Premier League team by going two goals up in the first half, only to see United claw their way back into the game towards the end of the second half.
Dan Halligan, 19, a season ticket holder at Grimsby Town who went to Wednesday night’s game with friends, said he couldn’t believe the result and had just wanted to see his team play good football.
“My brother texted me before the game saying, ‘should we go out if we win tonight?’”, Halligan said. “I texted him back saying, ‘Mate, let’s go out if we win a corner’. All I wanted to see was a goal.”
Putting on a brave face as he stood behind the bar at Docks Beers, a Grimsby pub that fans attend before games, despite being out until the early hours of Thursday morning, Halligan said he had no regrets.
“My hands are still sore from clapping, and I can’t talk from shouting,” he said. “I had work this morning as well, but what can you do? The whole town was out after, so I had to as well.”
Not even 24 hours after the victory, the club shop has reported a huge increase in sales, with staff this morning scrambling to go through orders. Kit supplies are running low, with the top worn by the goalkeeper Christy Pym – who admitted after the game that he was “half-fuming” with the result, being a United fan – sold out.
The result is so enormous that Mariner mania seems to have gone beyond north-east Lincolnshire. The club shop says items such as mugs and T-shirts designed to commemorate United’s visit to Grimsby are being shipped around the world, including to buyers in Europe, the US and Asia.
Roy Wilson, 43, has lived in the area his whole life, but found himself in a similar position to Pym.
“I’m a Town fan, obviously, but for one reason or another I do follow Man United as well,” he said. “I felt a bit strange going in but once the game started I was behind Grimsby. Seeing the faces around town today, it’s unbelievable. It just feels really, really special.”
Grimsby currently find themselves in the promotion positions in League Two, albeit after only five games. According to Wilson, though, the club should be looking towards a big season.
“We’re unbeaten so far this season and we’re playing well; before this game we were hoping to aim for top seven and promotion,” he said. “Now though, we should be winning the league. Why not? We beat United.”
