Cod Almighty | Postbag
State of the Town
10 October 2014
The defeat to Southport prompted Steve Bierley to vent his frustration. Then Pat Bell's patience snapped. And all the while you have been telling us what you think. This is the 'State of the Town' in the eyes of Cod Almighty readers. First though, the game of football should be at the heart of all this, so an account of the draw at Dartford.
Parakeets: more common than Grimsby goals
Regarding the match at Dartford on Saturday, a parakeet flew over the pitch and into an adjoining tree before the teams came out for their warm-ups.
Aswad Thomas took part in a round of 'keepy-up' with the other non-playing squad members. He lost out and had to crawl round on his hands and knees with his shorts down as a forfeit. Footie humour eh? And, yes, somebody did smack his backside.
The ref, after letting free kicks be taken from anywhere people fancied (I swear one was taken from the car park) suddenly came over all precious when a throw-in was a few yards out of position. He stopped play and gave it to the Darts instead.
Finally, although I am proud of the Mariners' away support, at half time as everybody swapped ends a group of Grimsby's finest marched down the other end chanting: "You support f**kin' s**t". When a passing Darts supporter with small children politely objected to the language he was sternly told: "If you don't like it, don't come to a f**kin' football match then". I like to think the irony was deliberate? [Asterisks are the author's, not ours – Ed.]
The match? I think we got a draw. Sorry, I was looking for more parakeets.
from Haddocksrock
Letters Ed responds: Thanks Haddocksrock, especially as none of the Cod Almighty team were at the game. If anyone would like to replace the irreplaceable Tony Butcher and write match reports for the games he can't make, please let us know. The next few letters are a direct response to Dire beyond straits...
Bierley for chairman
May I please be associated with the cut and thrust of the arguments advanced in 'Dire beyond straits'. It expresses so lucidly the views of all right-thinking Mariners fans.
The article should be immediate required reading for our non-chairman and manager. To them I would address the remarks made in Parliament in 1940 that prepared the way for Churchill to become prime minister:
"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go"
Steve Bierley should "get a grip", immediately be made chairman and appoint a new manager possessing the "mental strength" currently lacking to get us out of this dire league.
from Very Ancient Mariner
Lincolnshire solidarity
Two Lincolnshire giants destined to fail the expectations of catchment areas well beyond the acumen of the custodians of their beloved local institutions. Wonderfully penned, poignant piece as always. Don't start questioning the budget though, as in Imp-dom that means you will not even be allowed in.
I’ve put you on the football bingo site. I hope it adds the reads this article deserves.
from Neil Gentleman-Hobbs
A good side is a settled side
Yes, Steve Bierley sums it up perfectly. Further, a good side is a settled side. Even when a side wins after enforced changes – that side MUST be given its due reward to repeat the feat, because if you do not play that same team and you lose that game, you will always be wondering: "what if!"
I can see it, others can see it... ahem.
from Yont Rekarb
To the point
This is once again a crackin' article; well written and exactly to the point. GTFC are utterly clueless at the moment and drifting (at best) into mid-table mediocrity.
from Nick Cutsforth
Look in the mirror
May I suggest that Mr Bierley might look in a mirror in his search for who should "get a grip". Questioning the mental strength of a 5ft 4 inch former professional full-back who played 438 league games for Rotherham United is absurd.
But the Diary that day was bloody good though.
from Lee Johnson
Letters Ed responds: Lee wrote in again about The road to nowhere...
Inevitable frustration?
Once again your writers put the professionals to shame.
But don't underestimate the importance of the trust's decision to barter those shares. Their credibility suffered for me in the same way that Nick Clegg's did when he cosied up to David Cameron.
Pat's piece also highlights that a period of mediocrity/stability after all those years of decline might be frustrating. But is that exaggerated, as Tommy Widdrington said, because we have never really accepted that at the moment we are a non-League club?
from Lee Johnson
Letters Ed responds: It is perhaps worth reiterating the point Pat hinted at in his article. The strength and decisions made by the Mariners Trust are the responsibility of us all: non-members arguably even more than members. Your final three letters (although really they are articles in themselves) comment more generally on the state of the Mariners...
Allowing the commute
Superb writing this week from diarists, Steve and Pat. Strange that as the football gets duller the words get more evocative?
Success from McMenemy, Newman, Kerr and Buckley was achieved with players who integrated and ingratiated with the people of the townTo add to Pat's piece I would add 'Allowing the Commute'. GTFC is, like any decent football club, at the heart of the community. Success from McMenemy, Newman, Kerr and Buckley was achieved with players who integrated and ingratiated with the people of the town, understanding the importance of the football club at this geographical outpost.
The camaraderie that was evident at these times enabled your humble supporter to identify with the players, with their team and we almost willed each other on.
But once you lose that, once you allow players and management to commute from all ends of the country, you lose that identity. Although vilified for his third spell, Buckley came up against this problem straight away in 2006, citing that the "warmth had gone" and bemoaning the fact that you could take a minibus to away games as most of the players would meet you there.
Our east coast isolation does make it difficult to attract players and the lack of longer contracts is also a factor, but the fact that only a handful of our (better) players live in and around the area cannot be coincidental.
It also cannot be beneficial that the manager lives at least an hour away, apparently spending little extra time around the club and the town. When did you last see him at a function, a charity photocall?
I daresay that seeing a whole squad of players out in Cleethorpes every other Saturday will never happen again, nor should it given the players physical and financial states.
But when we were good, when we were successful, when we had teams we could identify with, it never did us any harm.
from Paul Thundercliffe
Reign of terror
So you wanted it, you're gonna get it.
Grimsby Town Football Club – I would say our football club but it isn't – are now firmly established as a non-League colossus. A team gradually being forgotten by the Football League, its support dwindles as the locals drift away to support League teams like Man City and Liverpool.
You may think this is down to ill-fortune and ITV Digital and you would be partially right. But there is something wrong in the state of Grimsby, something that many fans cannot or refuse to see. This thing has come along and changed forever the football club I support, whilst all the time disguising itself as a saviour and using the club's own media to whip its disciples into a frenzy every time it is opened up to criticism.
So many things have happened since the heady days of Championship football when the club first became infected and none of them have been good. Stalwarts and legends have been left helpless whilst being exposed to the fury of the fans and sometimes even of the thing that has left them in this predicament (I'm thinking of Groves, Rodger, Woods and even Buckley). Farcical sackings of farcical appointments have followed. Arguments with the press, arguments with managers who were on the eve of the only bright spot in fourteen years, nonsensical talk of mythical new homes, offers to step aside if somebody else came into the club with money and then not stepping aside, the treatment of supporters' trusts in any incarnation including the shocking manipulation of the trust to acquire shares for nothing.
The list seems endless but worse than all those is the reality that we find ourselves faced with. An eternity in the wilderness with no real effort to at least arrest the fall.
The club has been eaten away from the inside until only a shell remains. What has John Fenty saved?The supporters of John Fenty, for it is him of whom I speak, will forever bleat about his money and him personally saving the club. Well, he hasn't. The club has been eaten away from the inside until only a shell remains. What has he saved? Is it worth saving any more?
That's it – I'm too upset to carry on. There are things I'm sure that I haven't even touched upon, which just goes to show how really, really bad it is.
Enough.
from Mark Dillerstone
Town will come again, but my support for Mr Fenty has run out
Two seasons ago away at Tamworth, I got chatting to their groundsman, who had held every position at the club aside from manager. He waxed lyrical about the stadium and how far they had come. He also started every sentence with "when we were in the lower leagues". I think his definition of lower leagues was somewhat different to mine. And surely it was only a couple of seasons ago we went to Wembley (twice), entered in the third round of the cup every year, and beat Derby away on Boxing Day, our midfield duo of Chris Bolder and Iain Ward bossing their trio of Kinkladze, Burley and Warren Barton.
But we were in the lower leagues, and still are, with no sign of getting out of it any time soon. It's the hope that kills you.
Around a year ago I moved abroad, and with a heavy heart left my first love GTFC behind. Just to put this into context, I had missed two home games since 1989 (one of which was the 6-5 win vs Burnley), and the thought of not being at a football match (actually at the game, not just watching it on TV) on a Saturday/Tuesday seemed abhorrent. Town's demise made my decision to emigrate a little easier, but no less painful. I had stopped enjoying going to Blundell Park. It was now a chore. Would I have it any other way though? Absolutely not.
3,418 miles away, I still listen to John Tondeur's dulcet tones, and the distant cries of 'Mariners' fill me with pride and nostalgia But my love for GTFC still remains, despite the fact I now reside 3,418 miles away from BP. They still have the ability to cheer me up, and more often to ruin my weekends. I still listen to John Tondeur's dulcet tones on a matchday, and the distant cries of "Mariners" from the Town faithful fill me with pride and nostalgia. Pride in the fact that I am a Grimsby Town fan. A fan of my local team. A proper football club with proper fans, that is run by a chairman that is both local and a fan of the club.
Which brings me nicely on to Mr Fenty. I've been part of the silent minority that actually have supported his tenure, reasoning that he has put his own money in, and without him there wouldn't be a GTFC. He has been badly let down by managers that most fans thought were the best choice at that time (Newell, Woods, Buckley), but turned out to be failures. I cheered at the new dawn when Newell got the job. A proper manager who wore a suit and everything. Little did I know that they were just his going-out clothes from the night before, and his leaning on the dugout for 90 minutes was merely a sobering-up exercise.
However, my staunch support for Fenty has now run out. Same goes for Paul Hurst. Mid-table in the Conference just isn't good enough. Is there anyone else out there, though, ready to put their money in? Probably not. Especially not whilst Fenty and his hangers-on are still around.
I don't doubt that Town will come again. I just don't think we'll just be in the Conference for "a few seasons" any more. However, supporting them from afar seemingly makes me more patriotic, more proud of my heritage, and more proud to be a Town fan. I love my club. I just don't love the tits that are currently in charge of it.
Up the bloody Mariners.
from Kristian Richardson
Letters Ed responds: Thanks very much to Kristian, and to everyone who has written. Lee was kind enough to say Cod Almighty's efforts put the professionals to shame, and these letters all demonstrate that the ability to convey our shared passion for the club is by no means confined to our regular writers.
Please keep your letters coming, on any vaguely suitable topic, and if you are minded to write an article for us, let us know.