Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Friday 11 July 2008
11 July 2008
It's Friday; it's five to five and then it will be time to set off for Winterton to see our beloved Mariners in action for the first game in what promises to be another interesting Town season. All the first team squad are going says the superb new official site, which names twenty-two names and then goes on to confirm you can watch the match for a fiver. So no-one troubled by injury in the first week of pre-season training. The OS even provides navigational direction that sounds plausible. Things are really looking up, folks!
Lord Buckley has been following the laws of business management. His strategy to get Town out of the basement is to achieve it playing passing football. His tactical objectives are to forge a miserly defence and create attacking opportunities down the flanks. Operationally he must be worried about central midfield and whether he has goalscoring forwards. Every manager worries about whether his strikers will do the business, and to your Guest Diarist it seems he will be lucky to find anyone who is prepared to sign for us and better than what we already have. The midfield issue is more complicated. On paper we already have what we need. But that statement assumes Bolland gets back to being Bolland, and Boshell or Clarke deliver to their potential week in, week out. The players have had a good long break so that, with a good pre-season, may get the Bolland mojo working again. It is a fact that we need it. Our midfield needs to win possession and to be confident and creative when they have it. That eases the pressure on our central defenders mightily.
And Mr Bolland, whose ears must be slightly pink by now, has been chatting to the Grimsby Telegraph. Bolland says he is glad the first match has come at the end of the first week proper of training, and that he enjoys playing 4-4-2. What is on his mind though, like mine, is which two Buckley will settle on as his central pairing. Let's hope this climate of competition generates a positive result.
Going back to our strike force there is similar, fascinating competition. Notwithstanding Buckley's suggestions that he is actively looking for a goalscorer (which may of course be a media campaign only, on the instructions of Mr Wraith, who must be concerned at the reduced volume of season tickets sold so far), will this be the year that Danny North gets his act together and Jarman and/or Taylor realise their obvious potential? I'm sorry folks, but I have given up on Mr Bore. I just can't see it happening for him. And with the Lump gone (sob), Butler has to step up, stay fit and start scoring. But Butler must feel happier about the service he will get, surely? If we get to the ball to him in the right place and at the right time he will score goals. As for Jarman, the man who relishes taking the ball down on the half-turn, which defenders hate, get yourself fit, man, and the division is your oyster. Come on Town! See yer.