Cod Almighty | Diary

Face down in the dirt

24 February 2025

Miss Guest Diary writes: Saturday's game wasn't pretty and, our two goals aside, I'm not even sure it was all that entertaining, but it certainly demonstrated the progress Town are making as a team. Standing up to the fouling tactics of Fleetwood without much help from the referee, our players seemed more determined to win and keep the ball than I have seen for a long time.

I have never doubted Artell's ability to improve the skills of our players, but I have been sceptical as to whether he could instil in them sufficient spirit and confidence to go on and win when the chips are down. Let's face it, not that long ago conceding a goal caused heads to drop and more goals to be conceded. Not so on Saturday, it took just two minutes from Fleetwood's equaliser for Town to take the lead again.

It could just be a coincidence, but our recent upturn in form began when Doug Tharme returned to the starting line-up. Yes, I know that also coincided with a change of formation but it feels like the current form is something more than that. Tharme is one of those players who – like Stacy Coldicott or Luke Waterfall – is not particularly skilful or athletic but their presence brings solidity to the team. Quite simply put, when Doug is on the pitch Town are a team rather than just a bunch of athletes running around, which is definitely how they have looked at times this season. Like The Big Lebowski's rug, he pulls the room together. Also the stats don't lie – the Duck Farm has started 10 league games this season, which have resulted in seven wins, one draw and two losses. That's definitely automatic promotion form!

Town were also celebrating some non-playing milestones at the weekend. The EFL have reported that, working with the Grimsby Town Foundation charity, the club has helped to generate over £4 million of social value via community projects relating to physical and mental health, education and social wellbeing. Some of the people involved in those projects were presented with certificates as Community Heroes at half-time in Saturday's match. Another indication that our club under the ownership of Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit is about a lot more than just the football.

Which is why I was really disappointed to see some posts on social media in response to the news that the Wolds Panther is now out for the rest of the season. It was suggested that Vernam's contract should be paid up because that would be cheaper than continuing to employ him; that if Town want to progress they have to be ruthless. Don't these people understand that is not who we are now? That post-Fenty it's not all about the bottom line. Players are employees who should be treated with respect and compassion. Above all, would the club be striving to obtain B Corp status if it thought it was acceptable simply to bin an injured player? But binning some who consider themselves fans – I'm all for that.

UTM