Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 23 March 2009

23 March 2009

In February 2005 GTFC overturned a half-time deficit to beat runaway divisional leaders Yeovil, and the Glovers' then manager Gary Johnson spoke at the post-match press conference of Town's palpable improvement when the home fans actually got behind their side in the second half instead of booing like children at a pantomime every time Jason Crowe lost the ball, as they had in the first. Four years down the line the Mariners are still mired in the fourth division, but after Saturday's big and supportive crowd cheered them on brilliantly to a convincing win over second-placed Gillingham, Town fans have a second chance to learn the lesson. After seeing his side turned over by ostensibly the worst team in the Football League, Gills boss Mark Stimson told reporters: "They had a fantastic crowd here today and if the manager had that support every week I'm sure they wouldn't be where they are at the moment." Never a truer word spoken, of course - especially given the tremendous effect of another large and positive crowd two weeks earlier when Town beat Lincoln 5-1.

In the run-up to the Lincoln fixture, though, some Town fans had been suggesting on a web forum that the only way to motivate their team for the match would be to reprise the chant of "We're shit and we know we are" from the home defeat to Morecambe just beforehand, and a precondition for the manager to have the support every week that Stimson speaks of might be for someone to hunt these people down and ram their keyboards so far down their throats that they shit qwerty.

Get yer trousers on - you're nicked! There we were last week trembling at the memory of the panic spring signing sprees of 2003 and 2004, and there was Barry Conlon on Saturday with Velcro feet and a massive dominant bonce and The Sweeney making us forget Liam Trotter and Dean Sinclair had ever existed. But much as Messrs Re-Newell and Stein have done the biz again, the long-term success of the club will depend in large part on its youth set-up being able to turn out a few more Ryan Bennetts. The signs are good right now, as the GTFC youth team have added to their impressive run of achievements in recent seasons by reaching the national final of the Youth Alliance League Cup. Today's Grimsby Telegraph reports that the Myspace Mariners/Twittering Teens/alternative Web2.0-related nickname will face QPR in the final (but doesn't add where or when) after overcoming their Tranmere counterparts on Saturday in a penalty shoot-out. Leigh Overton saved two spot-kicks and the final penalty was scored by American defender Dallas Moore. I really hope that somewhere in the USA there's a youth team that includes an English centre-half with a name like Emmerdale Cooke.

Lastly today, the Diary was interested to note on Saturday that John Tondeur has now been covering the Mariners on Radio Humberside for 25 years. Our warmest congratulations to John, whose voice has been a source of much-needed insight and empathy for two generations of Town fans who can't make it to the match. Will the club or the BBC be marking this anniversary? We don't know. Can Diary readers email their observations on the occasion? You bet your sweet bippy.