Cod Almighty | Diary

What do I have to do to get a drink in downtown Iqaluit?

2 August 2017

While browsing an obscure second-hand bookshop in a sleepy market town a few years ago, I fell into idle chatter with the owner. "It's all go today," he told me. "This morning we had two people in here at the same time."

This returns to your original/regular Diary's mind today, at a time when nothing very much seems to have happened at Blundell Park recently, but somehow a fair bit of ground needs to be covered every time Microsoft Word fires into life for a Wednesday diary. Attention this midweek is focusing on Town's vacant number 9 shirt. Russell Slade's supply of African trialists arriving from second-division clubs in Benelux appears to have dried up (no doubt temporarily), and Town are browsing obscure reserve teams in sleepy towns for a striker, of course, or possibly two.

So the Grimsby Telegraph has it today that Blackpool's Jamille Matt was 'close to signing' last week but didn't, and among new potential replacements is a lad called JJ Hooper, who's 23 and scored ten goals during his just-finished two-year spell with Port Vale in the third division. JJ Hooper, you will already have observed, sounds like a 1980s TV detective – probably from Chicago or Detroit, though I won't rule out LA. What you won't already have observed is that the JJ part stands for Jonathan James. If the trial leads to a deal, we're singing "his name is a shoe shop" before Saturday's out.

One of JJ's more successful recent predecessors at BP, a certain Omar Bogle, has been 'linked with' a handful of clubs after some kind of bust-up at Wigan, just a few months after joining from GTFC. The bad news is that the premature timing of Bogez' next transfer will cost the Mariners a fair amount in lost sell-on percentz, as any fee will be far closer to the tuppence-ha'penny basic that was paid for him in January than to the £12million Leeds would have spunked on him after a decent half-season with the egg-chasers. The good news is that the clubs reported to be in the hunt include QPR, Celtic and Bristol City rather than Shrewsbury Town.

On, then, to the current shenanigans at the Mariners Trust. Now I believe workers, rather than managers and shareholders, are the creators of value in any given society. And I believe fans, rather than directors, are the moral owners of football. For these reasons I regard membership of my trade union and my supporters' trust as non-negotiable. You can argue against particular aspects of the way they're run. But you can't not be in.

So I won't be giving up my membership of the Mariners Trust because I don't like the outcome of particular issues. The consumerist 'what do I get out of it?' approach is not the right one. 'What can I put into it?' is more apt. We're all pressed for time and in many cases the answer may be 'just your membership fee, really'. But even that's better than nothing. No, the trust hasn't managed to change the club's support for B teams in the FL Trophy – but if I were to leave the trust because of that, I would not be making that outcome more likely next time.

Nor will I leave the trust because its chair has used the word 'twisted' to describe the reflections of one of my fellow diarists. I'll understand, though, if other people do. I'll understand if fans look at that and think, you know what, sod this. If this undermines the credibility of the trust in the eyes of the very people it should be representing. And for that reason I think Terry Rudrum should resign.

Speaking of supporters' power, let's play out with the excellent news that a fans' match between Town and Doncaster will go ahead on 29 August at the Linden Club as a #BTeamBoycott alternative to the travesty of an official competitive fixture taking place at the same time in the FL Trophy. I hope you'll get there and support the fans' game if you can – because you know what's at stake. Cheers.