Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 9 November 2007

9 November 2007

Hi guys. Durham Diary here, definitely arrogant but hopefully not up my own arse. Or anyone else's for that matter, in fact let's try really hard to make today's diary a no arse zone, OK?

Everyone has their opinion on Mr Buckley, and everyone seems determined that everyone else should know exactly what they think about him. So how about this, I'll say briefly what I think, but I won't tell you that I'm right or that you're wrong. If you don't want to know what I think skip on to the paragraph about Carlisle, and hopefully we'll all be able to coexist in happy harmony.

So here goes: firstly, Buckley is almost certainly the most successful manager we've ever had. Three times he has promoted us, and he's the only person since 1980 to ever get us promoted. Never once has he relegated us, or any other club under his stewardship. This is no mean feat for someone who has been a manger for well over 1,000 games, and a statistic that shows the man deserves far more respect than he receives in some quarters.

Secondly, he has had a poor season. 11 points from 15 games is less than this club should be able to expect. All excuses aside, the buck ultimately stops with the manager, and therefore this season he has not been good enough.

Thirdly, Town do play good football under Buckley. Most of us would prefer, if results were comparable, to watch Buckley football than the bash and crash that we witnessed under Slade. The results in Slade's second full season were not, however, comparable to the current results. But let us not forget that in Slade's first full season we finished 18th, and this is Buckley's first full season (this spell!).

Let's separate the past from the present, but not neglect the fact that Buckley has proven himself to be a good coach and a successful manager. Results need to improve, which means ultimately Buckley needs to improve. Will we be relegated this year? No, I don't honestly think so. Will Buckley resign or retire? No, he is too proud, and has enough confidence in his own ability to believe he will turn things round. Will the board sack Buckley? No, they can't afford to. Should the board sack Buckley? No, I don't believe so. He is a good manager with a proven track record at a club crying out for a period of sustained stability.

The last thing to say is that, given the club are in no position to sack Buckley, what Grimsby fans need to do most is support their team, support the club, and support the manager. This applies even if you don't think he is the right man for the job. In this instance there is nothing constructive that can come from anything other than supporting the current manager through the team's current bad run.

Carlisle. CARLISLE! Woo hoo, you lot who have zoned out during all of that can join me again now. In fact I think I've zoned out too. FOCUS! Town play Carlisle away tomorrow in the FA Cup. Carlisle have been so good and Grimsby so poor recently that FA Cup tradition almost defines this as a victory for Town! I'd love to be able to tell you how to get tickets to support your team, in fact I'd love to know myself since I can get there for £12 return on the train, but the not so SNOS are still trying to tell you the next two away matches for which you can buy tickets are Rotherham and some dirty bastard scummers. Couple this with the fact that trying to buy tickets online from the Carlisle official website leads to some pretty horrible looking error messages and you're screwed!

Carlisle seem to think Toner is some hardworking, tough-tackling, flair showing Superman, so with any luck they'll detail five of their creative players to mark him out of the game! You never know.

Finally today, Town's SNOS is running an article telling anyone who bothers to read it that Luke Foulkes has joined our old chums Boston United on loan until January, when presumably he will be able to move there permanently. Current members of Boston's playing staff include Jonny Rowan, Matt Bloomer, and Tony Crane. Oh, crap! All that effort and then I ruin it by mentioning the arse in the last paragraph!