Cod Almighty | Diary

Behind closed doors and for consenting adults only

30 March 2020

Whenever Domestic Diary is inclined to feel sorry for himself, having to write a topical, football feature when - stop press - there is no football, I reflect that at least my job and my livelihood do not depend on it.

The sports department of the Grimsby Telegraph is being helped through these difficult times by one old staple, and the new star in the firmament which is Ian Holloway. You don't in truth have to read much beyond the headline "'I'm focused on making sure people don't die unnecessarily' - Ian Holloway on life without football" to know what he says. Which is as well as my other reason for self-pity is a rotten but definitely not COVID-19 cold, so I'm back off to bed in five minutes.

Then there is that old staple, the player interview, forever reeled out even when what the player has to say is no more than the elaboration of an old tune, from "we're sorry we've been a bit shit lately, but we'll get better soon, honest" to "it's great being in the dressing room at the moment."

Max Wright, to be fair, is too conscientious to leave you feeling you have wasted your time. He gave new life to the old cliche about being "one of our own" before the season began. While it is hardly a reveletation that he is hoping for a new contract, there is real insight in “It’s been good with the new manager, we’ve learned a lot, and he understands us as players and knows how to feed information into us and talk to us properly”. Less an insight about Holloway, more about his predecessors, perhaps.

Talking of whom, impossible not to feel that the prospect of the rest of the season being played behind closed doors has come a bit too late to save some reputations. This surely is the time for which boomball and the kaleidoscope of formations were intended.

Unworthy. I'm off to read Chris Smith on what we miss even when the actual football is poor, and so should you be.

See you, eventually.