Premier League club lift Harry Haddock ban after blast from former Cleethorpes newspaper boss

Absolutely ridiculous - Nigel Lowther's TV blast for ban decision

(photo: BBC Look North)

JUST minutes after strong words from a former Cleethorpes newspaper editor, Premier League side Southampton  have backed down on a plan to ban Grimsby Town fans from taking inflatable haddock

mascots to next month's FA Cup Fifth Round match.

At lunchtime today, Nigel Lowther former editor and co-proprietor of the old Cleethorpes Chronicle, condemned the ban as "absolutely ridiculous" when he appeared on BBC TV's Look North programme.

"You would think a club that is at the foot of the Premier League would have more to be worried about than an inflatable fish,"he fumed.

Mr Lowther's words did the trick.

Less than 20 minutes later, the chief executive of Grimsby Town, Debbie Cook, confirmed that the ban had been lifted.    

"We are delighted to confirm that Harry Haddocks will be allowed in at Southampton,"she declared.

"Our two clubs haave found a solution that will allow our iconic inflatable to make an appearance at  for our biggest game in the Emirates FA Cup for a generation.

"We are really happy that Southampton have decided to let us take our Harrys.

"Ever since the 1989 FA Cup, he has been present at every big game in the club’s history, so it would have been a real shame for him not to be there."

Ms Cook also paid tribute to behind-the-scenes initiatives that had been undertaken by the Mariners' Trust.

The match, which is due to be screened live on ITV4,  is being played on the evening of March 1.

Long live Harry Haddock - today's message from the players at the Mariners' training ground in Waltham (photo: Grimsby Town FC)