Cod Almighty | Diary

How's Worksop got on?

6 August 2020

Tommy Spink was a more than decent outside right for Town before and after World War One. In June 1922, by now 34 years old, he joined Worksop Town. He returned to Blundell Park that October for a Midland League game, which Grimsby reserves won 3-1. Afterwards, he joined some of the players in a Cleethorpes hotel, and shouted as he entered: "How's Worksop got on?" He claimed he wasn't at the game, or at least he may as well not have been, as he'd hardly had a pass all afternoon.

He'd get his revenge five weeks later when Worksop beat Town's first team in the FA Cup. Grimsby's team was ravaged by flu that day, but even so it was a ramshackle outfit, plunging down the Division Three (North) table. Hard for any Town fan then to imagine they'd end the decade in the top flight. Middle-Aged Diary is drawing no parallels, but I am making a mental note to myself to remember to doctor this entry to suggest I am if in 2027 the Mariners are preparing to host the dislikes of Liverpool and Man United in a new league campaign.

While I'm way off the subject of a topical diary, let me mention that in November 1922 there was a general election. The Conservative candidate in Grimsby was Tom Sutcliffe from Sutcliffe & Sons shipping agents. He appears to have had an interesting take on the role of an MP. He stated "that he has been asked by many societies and people with interests of different kinds to give a direct answer of 'Yes' or 'No' to heaps of questions. However, he has indicated that he prefers not to bind himself by making cast iron pledges regarding highly controversial questions." I'm trying to think of which more recent Grimbarian Conservative would turn a request to state his views on an issue into the suggestion cast iron pledges are being demanded of him. Sutcliffe's unwillingness to state any policies did not stop him winning a 9,000 majority.

Meanwhile, in 2020, Grimsby Town chair Phil Day has estimated the club will lose out on revenue of around £1 million from the abandonment of the 2019-20 season and the restrictions that are likely to be in place for 2020-21. If there is any comic potential in that, I'm missing it. If there is anything fresh to say about the impact of COVID-19 on Town, it'll have to wait.

Bye.