Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 30 November 2007

30 November 2007

Quite a few of us who went to Barnet last week were a bit confused what formation the team were supposed to be playing. The fishy binoculars were out, your Guest Diarist noticed, and not a few heads were being scratched among the happy throng of visiting fans. At the end we shrugged, said "what the shit - it worked" and went home. Today Lord Buckley has revealed that the formation was actually 3-4-3 and boasted that his squad can play 4-4-2, 3-5-2 or indeed any combination thereof. As for tomorrow's FA Cup match at Huddersfield, we will have to see who turns out, and where they stand.

Buckley has told us that Monty will keep his place in goal; that Bolland is back in contention; that Butler is out (hamstring); and that Whittle's ankle is still giving the old man gyp. It's funny you know - a few weeks ago everyone was screaming for a striker. We got Butler, and then realised that actually it was our own Gary Jones and a resurgent North that we needed. As Boshell is still suspended, and both loan players can and will play, I leave it to you, gentle reader, to compute the starting line-up at your leisure. Expect the club to put a red shirt on eBay by Monday afternoon, folks.

I received, for the last time, a set of accounts from the club in the mail today. Not because I'm selling my shares but because in future the accounts will be published on the superb (and still resolutely new) official club website. A cracking idea welcomed by everyone (except possibly the printers). I haven't had chance to read the figures in detail yet but the official site has published the gloomy headlines, which reveal that a quarter of a million quid trading loss, plus the write-off of nearly six hundred thousand quid spent on the doomed new stadium project, mean that the club continues to slip towards bankruptcy. But kept afloat by the generosity of the directors rather than the enthusiasm of the fans. We live to fight another day.

The club held another fans' forum last night where folk could ask Messrs Fenty and Buckley awkward questions. In the same way I can't listen to Harriet Harman bleating her innocence, I couldn't quite stomach either going to the forum or tuning in on the internet. So, basically, if you don't know what came out you are as pathetic a Town fan as me, eh? The messageboards have been gently humming with tales of what went on, which can be pithily paraphrased as: not a lot really. The Telewag was there though, so you can read some of the answers here.

How the chairman must hope Town can get past Huddersfield and then get a plum draw in the third round. But, as the latest financial figures show, even that would only produce a temporary stay of execution. Town are in a right mess financially - some would say equally so on the playing side - and the only way to wake up the fair weather 'fans' will be a Wembley paint job or Man-U away. I preferred to go to Barnet, where the admission was cheap, the chocolate was hot and sludgy and the company was made up of true fans who view supporting their club as everything and the result as a bonus. See yer.