Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 20 September 2010

20 September 2010

Mardy Diary writes: Monday. Bloody Monday. And here we are again, having not learned the lessons of - hmm - say, the last ten years? And first up to Tell The Telegraph blah de blah de blah is Gary Birtles... no hang on, that's not right. It's Michael Coulson. We weren't good enough. We need to win the next match. We'll win and it'll all be alright. You know the routine by now, right?

I know why these articles appear - the Telegraph, desperate to fill a few column inches, phones up a Town player who just repeats the same old script. But it's wearing me down. I'd rather they just filled the space with a great bloody advert. Actually, I think they'd rather do that too.

So, the game then? And the club. Why do they do this to me? I stick up for them against the perma-miserablists, the fans who thrive off failure. The fans who take the safe bet. Yes, it's a safe bet. The club has been around 130-odd years and has achieved some measure of success in maybe 15 to 20 of those years. The odds are stacked on failure (or rather, a lack of success) - that is the norm and the stats show that is the safe bet. If you bet Town will fail, chances are you'll get your money back. But I prefer a bit of hope, so I turn to those who sulk in perpetuity and say: "Look - it takes time. You need to get the right players, settle in, have stability, keep trying and the results will come." But then we have a performance like that. And how can I defend that? What are the positives? I can't say we were unlucky, that we controlled the game, were denied by woodwork/referee/outstanding goalkeeper, and that we were unlucky to concede. We weren't. We didn't compete across the team. But it didn't seem to be through a lack of effort - for most players - they seemed like they were running around and trying, in the main. So, it was a lack of - I don't know - desire? Bottle? Responsibility?

Responsibility plays a big part here - to me there were too many players shirking responsibility - especially in midfield. Too many times players got rid of the ball because they didn't want to take the responsibility of doing something with it, so they knock it upfield to... who knows where? Most of the time it wasn't even to an area of the pitch we had players in. That is a lack of responsibility, bought on by a lack of courage. Fleetwood, in contrast, played without fear and with courage and determination. That is all they needed to beat us. And yes, I know, they come here without expectation or pressure which is something that lays so visibly on the heads of our players - but they're professional footballers. They've got this far in the game: they should be able to deal with the pressure and the expectation. It's not a new concept for them.

Connell is politely excused from all of this, of course. He does his job, and he's scoring even in a team that is underperforming. We can't expect too much more. And O'Donnell, a player on short-term loan, shows more desire and determination than some of the players on long-term contracts. That, I would say, is embarrassing for those players. O'Donnell seemed as frustrated as a lot of the fans watching on Saturday. Who wants it? But we get Bore regressing, and Gobern... oh, Gobern - football is about more than parading your orange-faced WAG in front of the crowds. How about you pass and move about and get yourself in a position to receive the ball? And central midfield - oh, how we're so tired of repeating ourselves - central midfield, where are you? Where have you been for so long now? I've seen so many Town games these last few years where we've played without a midfield. How can we still be having this problem? Where do they disappear to? It's like staring into the vacuous maw of a black hole as it rips my heart from my body and dispatches it into the icy wastes of time and space.

Change the manager. Change the players. What difference does it make? It makes none. I must be looking very old tonight.