Cod Almighty | Diary
The least we can do is wave to each other
16 October 2025
Hot news! A minute ago there was the merest glimmer of the sun. Here in the Fens, like most everywhere else, your Guest Diarist is in the thrall of an extended period of anti-cyclonic gloom. Not cold enough to require the heating but damp and the rotting smell of Autumn is seeping in. Rat lovers look away now but my only news is that my old Patterdale has gnawed a few more notches on his bedpost. Rats are everywhere in the countryside this year. But it is Hot Rats when he is around as they scarper hither and thither. Anyroad the next paragraph contains actual news.
A young man who played for Town (but who never quite made it to be called a Town player) has knacked his knee big time and so will not face Town. The club he is on loan to play us on 13th December so whether that qualifies as news is moot. Anyway, get well soon Jayden you could have been a contender with us. Maybe you'll be back.
When Town have an off-day, and they still have them a bit too often, it's like their spark fizzles out. At worst you know in the first few minutes, last time it started spluttering just before half time. My older reader may recognise this as the The low spark of high-heeled boys. The snap goes out the tackle, the pace drops a fraction, the passing plans go out the window. And if the referee gets card-happy you may as well sub our defensive midfielders because they are neutered. Still, last season, on our off days we shipped loads of goals. This season we are definitely better.
The Japanese have a word, ikigai, which means that thing which 'gets you up in the morning', the thing that gives your life meaning. We all need ikigai, and for many of us one of its components is Grimsby Town. But I humbly suggest that you try to avoid conflating it with the hedonic treadmill. I got off that twenty years ago. Basically it means 'the more you have the more you want'. Everyone wants their football team to win dazzingly every week. But they don't and they never will. Rather than shouting at players on an off day, or lambasting the owners for not funding a mega-budget, or even telling the manager where he is going wrong, try to concentrate on the good things that are happening however small. We may not get promoted, we might not even make the playoffs. It is possible that the whole season may end up being mired in anti-cyclonic gloom and we find ourselves drifting in the doldrums of mid table. Whatever, we have our ikigai, and the sight of young players getting better, the memory of the odd cracking goal and, most of all, the knowledge that we are following a club with a coherent plan and with empathetic stewardship should carry us through. See yer.