Cod Almighty | Diary

All cutting corners and procrastination

2 October 2020

I knew this season would be challenging when I saw the home kit. Black and white stripes is not hard. What we’ve got is a black strip with red and white trim. It's a travesty.

Town were as slow as Nathan Clarke to come out of furlough. While nobody can deny the challenging times we have all faced, our football club reacted like a sloth and as a consequence a team was hastily built and one pre-season game was played.

It can only be about money. Saving money. Not spending money. It doesn't really matter which way round. The fact that we, as a collective, gave them the money that wasn't spent deserves an explanation.

Season tickets were put on sale late. This may have been to reduce costs but I would then question the price of posting out to 2,500 people and the additional burden of the business reply envelopes. Emails are free. The clunky way you could buy them: only between 10-2 in person during the week with no chance for a working fan to get there at a weekend. No online sales: you had to post a form. It all added to the frustration. As it stands, the only confirmation I have that I am a season ticket holder this year is that the money has gone out of my account. Not so much as a thank you.

Thunderdiary understands the world is a different place. But Town’s reaction to the pandemic has been classic Town, all cutting corners and procrastination.

Having no football merely adds to the malaise, with Town clearly at odds with the rest of the football world as it hibernates while everyone else has got on with it. Why? We're none the wiser a week on but I assume the answer lies somewhere in the "Town haven't followed the procedures correctly" camp.

When (if) Town do play a game of football next Saturday, they will have left a cocoon of chaos, with little training and poor preparation. If Town were a film it would be that scene in Kes where the kids are rubbish at football and are bullied by the ref.

As the strapline says: "They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn't break his spirit."

Let's hope the spirit is strong enough.