Cod Almighty | Diary

One day at a time

23 January 2017

Miss Guest Diary writes: There was a bit of déjà vu about Saturday's game. Just as the week before, it was a very cold day, there was a minute's applause for an ex-player and the team ran out in that new 5-3-2, or maybe 3-5-2, formation. Fortunately, the resemblance ended there.

Instead of playing six defenders, Marcus stuck to just the five, playing a proper midfielder in the middle three instead of a full-back. Both new midfielders made their debut, with Jamey Osborne shining the brightest on his first outing. Clements didn't do anything wrong but was a bit anonymous and, on one occasion, was seen to point in a worryingly Widdrington-esque way. And, for the first time since his arrival, Scott Vernon made a great contribution and scored a goal.

I'm not getting too carried away yet: Notts County were undoubtedly the weakest team we've seen at Blundell Park for quite a while. But you can't beat the feeling of walking away from the ground at five o'clock on a Saturday with three points safely in the bag. For a time we can forget dodgy presidents, divisive referendums, global warming, terrorist threats and all the other bad news we are constantly bombarded with, and just revel in the fact that our team has won.

I feel sorry for people that don't get sport, who never have the amazing feeling of sharing something so wonderful but intangible, yet so important, with thousands of strangers. Equally, they won't suffer the feeling we get when our team loses, but at least we don't have to bear that misery alone.

Talking of sharing feelings, and at the risk of appearing to be a heartless curmudgeon, I feel compelled to say I am not in favour of these random minutes of applause which seem to be happening more and more often at public events. I wondered during the 22nd minute on Saturday, dedicated to a young Notts County fan, who decides when these things happen and what real meaning they hold.

As someone who helps to run a bereavement support charity, I know that people can derive comfort from all sorts of rituals and memorials to commemorate a loved one who has died. But I also know that around 10,000 people die every week in England and Wales, and a lot of those will have supported a football team. If they were all to be commemorated at games, there'd be no time for the football.

Equally puzzling is the seemingly random commemoration of ex-players. We have had three passings marked so far this season: Paul Futcher, Graham Taylor and, on Saturday, Clarrie Williams. I totally get the first two, but not so much the third. Given that hundreds of people have played for Town over the years, if all of their deaths were marked, we'd be having a minute's silence or applause at virtually every home game.

I have a suggestion for the club: a minute's silence before the last home game of the season for us to remember everyone we have lost during the last year. The names of ex-players and fans who have died in that time could be displayed on the scoreboard – a bit like the tributes to film people that they have at the Academy Awards ceremony.

On a more cheerful note, Smiley Marcus is back and joshing with John Tondeur after the game about Shaun Pearson being the new Beckenbauer. There's also a lovely interview with Dean Henderson about his possible future with the club. He sounds like a very level-headed young man but has obviously been well-schooled in talking to the media, committing himself to Town while being careful not to make any actual promises. It put me in mind of the scene in the baseball movie, Bull Durham, where the old pro is coaching the rookie in how to give an interview, starting off with "We gotta play it one day at a time…"

Last week it went quiet on the Omar transfer rumour front, but today's suggested front-runners to sign him are Reading and Derby. While it would be a shame if he went before the end of the season, it's hard to see how the club are going to pay the wages of all these new players we've signed otherwise. And it seems Marcus is still after a couple more players before the window closes next week. Have we seen the last of Omar at Blundell Park? Only time will tell.

Coincidentally, I noticed when writing today's missive that I wrote a diary exactly five years ago. And what were fans fretting about then? That Liam Hearn would leave and blight our chances of making the play-offs. Of course, he didn't leave, but Town finished a rather disappointing 11th that season. Football's a funny old game, isn't it?