Cod Almighty | Diary

Disorder in Cleethorpes? Yes, for about fifteen years

26 July 2016

Wicklow Diary writes: Ever had a period when you tuned out of Town for a while? Perhaps missed a few games or even a season? I had such a spell in the mid to late 2000s. I still knew every score but moving country, getting married and three children's worth of nappies relegated Town on the list of priorities. For a few glorious years, John Fenty was just the "what about the orange?" guy.

Sometimes I'm envious of that detachment. The more I love GTFC, the more I want to know and analyse every result, detail, event and club statement. Paradoxically, this can put that very affection under threat.

The shame of being associated with Saturday's problems in Cleethorpes is bad enough. Yesterday's statement on the "troubles" in Cleethorpes would be regarded as an embarrassment to any professional organisation. However, we've been seeing this shoddiness for years. The club just won't address it. (Update: "attaché" has been edited to "attached" instead of "attach". "Disburse" is still hanging on in there.) They're not averse to voluntary positions, so I hereby volunteer to proofread future releases. I won't change any of the crazy content, just fix some of the words and stuff. Then I'll pass it on to original/regular Diary to finish the job. That's an easy fix.

We can't fix the issues contained in the club's incoherent and contradictory rant as easily. Fighting morons and loutish behaviour ruined Cleethorpes for everybody on Saturday. It's not the club's fault that these elements exist in society. However, blaming two of our partners in managing these problems, the police and the trains, probably isn't going to help. We have a lot to lose and have to be proactive in dealing with it. Why aren't we leading the discussions to ensure the appropriate measures are in place?

This is one more piece of the bigger problem. A problem that it is difficult to avoid writing about when I start the diary every week. I got on my soapbox in February but my intentions were good. It's nice to allow myself a relieved grin at the mention of "gut-wrenching Wembley" but the the core theme was: what do we want GTFC to be?

The question still applies. Where is the vision? What have we learned from relegation? Where is the three year, five year and longer term plan? If there is one, it's being kept well hidden. I would go so far as to say that the only difference between now and 2009 is that we have a better manager. The overall approach to how the club conducts its business seems otherwise unchanged. Our home has decayed by another six years (the events of the weekend and the club's reaction to it will not help that situation when the next planning consultation starts). There's even a temptation to say that squad places are being filled without a plan to include the youth team graduates.

What else? We've had very little from the club at a time when we should be capitalising on the euphoria and momentum of promotion. The Operation 3K initiative came from the trust this summer. Ignored for the league's B team vote, yet relied upon to boost club revenue, this amounts to shameful treatment of the trust by the club. If you're a democratic and representative supporters group with two seats on the board you get no contact when a critical vote takes place. Yet if you call JF a prat and mention Mike Parker anonymously on the internet, he shows up like Batman. Maybe mentioning Parker and his shares is the equivalent of Commissioner Gordon cranking up the bat sign.

I like the humour of that bomb squad t-shirt, the one with "if you see me running, try to keep up". You need a sense of humour when you know things are going wrong. How do we put a positive spin on things and maintain our interest? Well, apparently there are no straight rivers.

We complain about how the club is run but with a well run machine we may have missed the thrill of non-League football. There's a t-shirt idea: John Fenty, the man who put Braintree and Ebbsfleet on the map. Moving back a little further into our recent history, imagine a universe where Huxford and Everitt hadn't sacked Alan Buckley. Being a Buckley fan (seems weird having to state yourself a 'fan' of our greatest ever manager), I declare that he'd never have blown the imaginary ITV Digital cash and we'd never have been relegated. Yes, eighteen consecutive seasons of division two pass and move with Alan Buckley still in charge. We'd finish between 9th and 17th every season with maybe the odd cup run to the 5th round. Would we swap the instant that Nathan's goal hit the net at Wembley for that? Well, I'd at least have to think about it for a moment.

Ah yes, Nathan's goal. Forget for a minute that Radio Humberside linked him with Lincoln City this morning. I used to question the idea of videoing with your phone something that you should be experiencing live. Especially at a game being professionally recorded and broadcast on TV. Hearing the unfiltered reaction to Omar's goal at Lincoln last season and the handheld roar when Podge scored at Braintree made me doubt my stance. Then of course, came the Wembley videos. Thousands of them to be watched thousands of times. And you notice all sorts. Gregor Robertson announced his retirement yesterday and leaves on a high. A solid performer for his season and a half, my favourite memory of him comes from this video. Watch carefully at 3min 44secs when he gives a little kick with his right boot to help Nathan finish before wheeling away to join the Town centipede. Magic.