"A LOT of people say Grimsby Town deserve to be a Football League club – but you have to earn it."
Those were the words of Rob Scott as the joint boss looks ahead to tonight's crucial play-off semi-final first leg with Newport County.
The clash marks the Mariners' first step on a road that could lead them to finally seal a Football League return at the third time of asking.
And as Scott prepares for the clash with the Exiles, he's urged his players to grasp the opportunity and finally end all the talk of Town's 'false' position in the footballing pyramid.
Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: "The season that they've had so far doesn't come around too often and they've got to grab this opportunity.
"Other players and managers can go their whole careers and not have the sort of campaign that we've had here.
"It's been a great season so far, but we want to make it an excellent one.
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"The players want to be part of a Grimsby Town promotion-winning team and they'll be striving to do all they can to achieve that – but they'll need to earn it.
"You hear a lot of people saying 'this club deserves to be a league club'.
"It needs to be a league club, but whether you deserve it or not, you have to earn it and work for it.
"We've all put a lot of work in this season – not just the players and the staff – to achieve what we want to achieve.
"There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes to get this club to where it needs to be.
"Now we, as players and staff, need to work extremely hard over these final two, and hopefully three, games to get to where we want to be.
"We came into the club to take it forward and improve. This season, we finished 13 points better off than we did last year, which is massive really.
"Yes, we're pleased with how this club is developing, but we want to continue that development in League Two next season."
Mariners goalkeeper James McKeown was online yesterday chatting to fans ahead of the play-offs. You can replay the discussion here
