Cod Almighty | Diary

Sometimes our story's just too beautiful to tell

19 March 2026

It's been a long time since I rock and rolled, but Tuesday night saw your Guest Diarist shimmying up the stairs to bed after a tense game had the perfect ending as the club who lose money ethically and gracefully beat the club who grubbily throw money around to no visible effect. The villains sunk in the sinking sands and we had heroes in the seaweed. Let's talk about a few - it's half five in the morning and there's nowt else spoiling.

Mr Artell has built a good spine to the team.

Our keeper might only be a loanee but he is a full-on good goalkeeper. No groans follow his kicking, he makes all the saves you'd expect and a few bonus ones that are very good. He's aggressive, enthusiastic and collegiate. If he doesn't swallow our shilling I will be desperately disappointed.

The centre-back pairing of Maldini and McJannet has gelled very quickly. Maldini is remarkably composed, efficient and seemingly impeturbable for a 20-year-old. He don't take no shit and dishes it out when necessary. McJannet just goes on forever. Yes, a proportion of the 40-yard diagonals he has been programmed to deliver don't make it but apparently the data says they are worth continuing with so he keeps trying.

Rodgers is the experiment that shouldn't work but somehow does, maybe because the man himself is so determined he makes it persist. Staunton has the sweetest left foot since Tony Gallimore and Sweeney rarely has an off day.

Walker's only vice seems to be his age. If his legs would stand it I'd have him on the pitch all the time. He works very hard, thinks on his feet and that speed of thought allows him to create unexpected opportunities in the build-up. Turi remains a work-in-progress but is steadily improving – a testament to Artell's coaching. Conteh 2.0, he can be silky smooth but has the physicality to mix it a bit.

Up front we have the raw and the cooked. I have been impressed with Cook's work rate and his positive attitude. The Town programming is not designed for him but he feeds off scraps and keeps scrapping. Kabia, Amaluzor, Soonsup-Bell and Gardner offer pace and workrate and will only improve – they are fine young cannibals. Amaluzor's physicality was disruptive and impressive in his cameo against Fleetwood. More of that please.

Are our wingers our weakness or our strength? Burns works well without the ball but his wingman skills are too predictable so far. Vernam, well Charles is Charles. On his day he is unplayable at this level and while those days arrive often enough he is a big asset. We badly need a match-fit JDS for the run-in and beyond. Mr Artell explained that the data says you need 30-odd crosses to get a goal. If all those crosses fail to beat the first man you need a million. Elevation! And, as BOTB mentioned yesterday, if half the team play tippy-tap on the wing before the cross finally arrives the chances of scoring go down dramatically.

Do we have a chance? It's a very hard run-in but yes we do. The international postponements mean April is massive. We need everyone fit and playing at their absolute best. I just hope that, if we are destined to fail, we only fail at the very last hurdle – I want to keep savouring the hope and excitement as long as possible. There's a few shimmies left in me yet. See yer.