Cod Almighty | Diary

Are we the baddies?

18 February 2021

Trenstside Diary writes: Eeeee it's boring. Our position is so precarious that I want games to come at us, just to get a bit of momentum going. Or maybe it's like a plaster; whatever the outcome just rip it off and get it over with.

Having been regaled on Tuesday with exciting events associated with 16 March, the Tranmere match has been pushed back a day to the 17th: St Patrick's Day celebration anyone?

I was bemused with Town being fined for "failing to control their players". Yes, the fine was a relatively paltry £1,000 but we can't be that flush can we? It's money we could do without losing. We've said before that we really are rubbish at that sort of thing - you know harassing the ref. We rarely do it and yet do it once and we get fined. Don't get me wrong, I would prefer that we win without needing to use dark arts but given our position we need anything that might give us an edge and we shouldn't ever be totally passive. Watch certain successful top flight teams and they constantly surround the ref.

Were we treated unfairly? I had a look through the FAs disciplinary charges for January 2021 just to get a feel for the numbers.

If you ignore the appeals against red cards there were 60 charges brought by the FA in January. A lot you might think? Well do bear in mind that these cover women's leagues, U23s and U19s, the Isthmian league and the Southern League. Just go with the top four leagues in the men's game and you are down to 12 incidents, five of which were the managers losing their rag during or making comments after a game plus a Chief Executive Officer doing similar. Two were breaches of betting rules, and it is alleged that Morecambe FC "did not provide an adequate Doping Control Station for drug testing"; no wonder they're flying high.

That leaves three charges. Harrogate Town admitted a charge of failing "to ensure that its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion". And the other two were one incident when players from Colchester United and Southend surrounded the ref. Two incidents in the top four leagues in a month. I don't know about you but I watched a lot of football in January and I saw many similar confrontations to the Town/Newport one. It was no worse than what you see in many games, or am I totally out of step?

Having seen how few times charges are actually brought I think we were harshly treated. Referee Craig Hicks is obviously a sensitive soul. He's officiated seven games in our league and given out seventeen yellow cards and two reds. Another one to add to the list of refs I'm not keen on.

Two of Exeter's regular players are suspended for Saturday's game. There is a degree of glee about this, but from Town’s point of view we just have to beat whatever is in front of us. However, it is good that their top scorer won't be on the pitch. We just need to bag a couple ourselves. Southend, Barrow, Stevenage we're coming for you.

UTM! Fenty Out!