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Cod Almighty | Diary

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

11 January 2023

Chairman Wow is at it again today in the Guardian. Of all the unexpected things to have happened over the past few years, seeing the owner of GTFC using his regular national platform to promote initiatives such as the club's commitment to mental health is one that Daubney Diary welcomes.

Listening to the sense and decency, it’s difficult to believe he's the chair of any football club, let alone ours. Harder to believe is that he and we exist in the same footballing realm as teams like Manchester City. Er, Manchester City for example. Weak governance has created the paradox that the shiniest rewards in football go to the clubs prepared to do the dirtiest deeds. This Colin Millar thread this morning illustrates the questionable lengths that City will go to win.

Still we, and Jason Stockwood, find ourselves in this world where GTFC attempt to compete with, if not directly City, watered-down versions of the same where winning is the only measure.

For Town, things should be rosy. However, being the winners of the greatest play-off campaign in the history of football has not stopped familiar grumbles surfacing. Stockwood’s Christmas message to Town fans was a philosophical one in the face of this: 

A lot of football fans, not just Town, want one thing. And they want it now, not last season or next season. This presents problems for the few sensible owners out there, and the transfer window brings these into focus. Blunty put, it's the transfer window and there's no column on the league table for mental health of your fans.

Town's ongoing cup run has earned them a few bob. There are fans that would like to see some or all of this spent on Gary Goals today if not sooner. And why not, the play-offs are well within reach and should be the objective. Daubney has no doubt that they are, for both board and management. However, they will be only one aim of many in a plan where others may be of higher prioirity. 

Our promotion in June put the club ahead of schedule. It was a "nice early" in the way that your train home arrives ahead of time and you can get a crafty pint in the station bar before tottering home. Another ahead of schedule promotion in May without prioritising other areas would be lovely, but might be like the dinner party guests ringing the doorbell when you're just getting into the shower and haven't even put the umbrella thingys in the canapes.

We're getting to another paradox, the one that Alan Buckley encountered in his first two spells as manager: Fans watch a winning team. After that they get bored and stop going. You're left with a hardcore of three thousand nutters who would follow you to Histon or Woverhampton, and some of whom may also write fanzines in between.

On the surface, objectives like a new training ground or ground improvements sound boring compared to chucking €10k a week at a semi-crocked ex-Premier League striker who might score a couple of goals and hold his own in the Barcy or whatever it's called these days. However, they are objectives that save fans from themselves; they will keep them out of B&Q on a Saturday afternoon for another season at least while the rest of us endure a dour 0-0 with Sunderland or Sheffield Wednesday.

When we go up to division three, and we will, we don't want to be making up the numbers in front of dwindling crowds. We want to be a sustainable club with a ongoing vision on and off the pitch. How far that can take us in a pyramid that has been rigged at the top? Who knows. That journey will take time. This diary is running out of space and yet to tell you that the Northampton game has been moved to a 2pm kick off so we don't confuse their big ballers with the egg chasers. So go and Google Brentford or something yourselves. We used to beat them and now they beat your Liverpools and Manchesters in a new ground without a sheikh or rouble in sight. Maybe good things do come to those who wait.