Insider: Bignot has made telling contribution for Grimsby

Since replacing Paul Hurst at the start of November, he has lifted the club up another gear and swiftly got the fans on side.

Hurst was different, a measured individual who during three years of sole charge last season took Grimsby back into the Football League.

However, Marcus comes across as very passionate about the fans and club as whole, proving himself to be very open.

He arrived following Hurst’s decision to join Shrewsbury, which surprised a few people.

Hurst had proven himself as a manager, but it was a shock he didn’t hold out for a club a little bit higher than the League One outfit.

Many thought he might have wanted to test himself a bit further up the leagues than that.

Now Bignot has arrived from Solihull Moors, a team he won promotion with last season, and has a good reputation.

Hurst had achieved his number one objective by taking Grimsby back into the Football League, even if it took a year or two longer than expected.

As far as the club is concerned, it is case of now seeing how the season goes rather than setting targets.

This is a bit of a learning curve for everyone in terms of the standard and what everyone expects.

Ben Davies has been injured for eight weeks, yet had got off to a good start with a free-kick goal on his debut against Morecambe.

He came here with a good reputation, with quite a few Pompey fans Tweeting messages saying Grimsby had the signing of the season!

It’s a shame he has not been able to play as much as the club would have liked, we have not seen an awful lot of him.

However, when he has appeared he has been very, very solid and demonstrated quality on the ball. It is quite clear he has played higher than the current level.

Top scorer with 16 goals in 19 appearances is Omar Bogle, in his last four matches alone he has netted seven times.

He started and ended last season extremely well, although did go a little quiet in the middle of that promotion campaign.

Bogle possesses everything you need to be a quality striker and continues to learn all the time with the Mariners.

Naturally, anyone scoring that amount of goals is going to attract interest, no matter what level, yet with 18 months left on his contract it would require a high fee.

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