The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

Don't look back in anger

18 May 2016

Wicklow Diary writes: When I were a lad, I reckoned I could tell the current fortunes and form of GTFC just by looking around the town. Everywhere seemed brighter when we were clicking on the pitch. The streets were cleaner, and busy, with heads held high atop springy steps. The biting wind against stooped shoulders and boarded-up shops seemed to take prominence during the leaner times. Unfortunately, as I knew every statistic about every season and every game, I was never actually able to prove this ability in some sort of blind taste test.

Looking at yesterday's bandwagon open-top bus tour of the town, it was easy to guess the team's form and see the positive impact it has on the community that holds it so sacred. I can't think of anything else in the town that could have inspired the carnival atmosphere and generate such excitement and pure happiness across all ages and backgrounds. Some of the greatest moments in the lives of many Grimbarians have come on the football pitch in the black and white of GTFC.

The councillors who greeted the team at the town hall yesterday have a responsibility to recognise this and use it to put real momentum into the stadium project. By 'real' and 'project', I mean plans and actions with, you know, delivery dates. Get on the phone to Scunny and Boston and everyone else and find out how we can build something without endless committees and surveys and reviews. Put the club at the heart of the community – and to hell with the grinches of the comments section of the Telegraph who tell you our club is just a private company owned by the Five Star Tory with a horse box.

Perhaps that is a lot to ask. Maybe they could start with getting the manager's name and the club's Twitter handle right.

On Sunday Paul Hurst was accused of picking the wrong time and place to answer politely and honestly a question about those who had given up on him and the team. Did anyone else see the irony in him being accused of bad timing in calling out fans who were booing the team and calling for his sack in the middle of the play-offs?

What are the right time and place? He basically has two choices: there and then, or in his autobiography. Anywhere in between and he'd be accused of needlessly opening up old wounds. Hurst was asked a straight question and gave a straight answer.

I felt much more uncomfortable when one or two of the players gave the blanket response that no-one deserves the success more than our fans. James McKeown was not one of these. He gave John Tondeur the frank comment that at times "they've hated us and we've hated them" and compared the relationship as that of a family, with the rows and underlying love that comes with it.

I was uncomfortable, too, with the suggestion that a bit of abuse is a good thing if it galvanised the team. That's not the support I want to give the team. Get your scarf on son, we need to get down to BP and tell Town what a bag of piss they are or they might not win. Demotivation as the new motivation. Get Pisces back in to record 'Fuck the Mariners'. Sing when we're fishing? We only win when we're cribbing.

Last night Hursty chose the perfect time and place to commit his future to Town. The fizz may have left the carnival without this surprising yet welcome pledge. I had expected him to pad away all questions on his future until after the Trophy final. Undaunted, Notts County have reacted to the news by saying they still want Hurst as the late August replacement for whoever they find to appoint now.

Hurst staying is good news. He will hopefully be able to hold the core of the team together once again. A team that is his and plays for him. It was touching to hear how genuinely happy the players and staff were for their manager. They love him. We should too. There are some concerns about the tactics and style of the team since January, but only the most bitter would try to deny that his departure would have been bad news. We all wanted promotion so much that it was always likely the quality of the football might suffer. It's important to remember that Hurst can build teams to play attractive passing football. We saw it throughout the pre-season and in spells during the season.

Beyond his current squad, it was revealing to see the congratulations and love for Hursty coming from ex-players and loanees too. Conor Townsend even popped down to Wembley and lend his support (for Conor's sake, don't tell the Scunny fans this).

An ex-player who I didn't see a message from was old friend Richard Brodie. He's joined York in a clear sign that they might be dropping anchor and settling in for a few years of Conference football. That should make make you even happier to be a League club once again but also give you a slightly uneasy sensation from the question "how did they end up down there again?". Incidentally, in another example of the progress in the field of artificial intelligence, my phone truncated the link to this article as "York City boss believes Richard Brodie can be a "real ass..."