Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 10 October 2011

10 October 2011

Miss Diary writes: The most disappointing thing for me about Saturday's collapse at Mansfield - which I could see coming - was the fact that, when it arrived, I found I didn't care very much. In the past I have shed a tear when Town conceded; I have even, on one memorable occasion when Town lost through an undeserved penalty very late in the game, stood up and hurled a mouthful of four-letter abuse at Jan Aage Fjortoft. On Saturday I felt mildly irritated for a minute or two. Looking back, my irritation after the game, at not being able to find which aisle the sugar was in at the local Sainsbury's, was slightly greater.

From the games I have seen this season Town are in no danger of going down and seem unlikely to string enough good results together to go up. The playing style is often ugly and boring. Many of the players seem interchangeably average, with a few notable exceptions such as Disley, Coulson, Eagle and Hearn. And I really haven't taken to the new managers. My relationship with Town seems to be heading for divorce on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown, or possibly mental cruelty. So what might rekindle my passion? A stirring cup run? We start from so far back these days - FA Cup fourth qualifying round, for goodness' sake - that the possibility of a big game against a Premiership, even a Championship, side seems hopelessly remote.

Talking of big cup games, the Town tweeters have been nostalgically celebrating the tenth anniversary of beating Liverpool in the League Cup. To me this seems an unhealthy and pointless activity, a bit like when you have a mouth ulcer and you can't stop prodding it with your tongue even though you know it will hurt.

Last week the Grimsby Town Supporters Trust arrived on Twitter (@OfficialGTST). Currently it has 153 followers; I think it'll need to raise its profile a bit higher if it's going use the shares it's been gifted by Mike Parker to save the club. So why not join the trust? I'm going to. Life membership is a bargain at £100 or, if that seems like too big a commitment, £15 for a year. The trust has tweeted a link to the minutes of a recent meeting at Blundell Park which tells you about their aims. It has also invited applications for election to its board and promised to arrange an open meeting in the near future.

Worthy as following GTST is, I generally look for something a bit lighter in the Twittersphere. If you do too, may I recommend following the radio presenter Danny Baker (@prodnose), whose Tweets are often totally surreal but never fail to entertain. He has an oft-repeated mantra on his radio show: "Sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but always certain."

That mantra would also do for Tony Butcher, the Cod Almighty match reporter... if you removed the 'sometimes wrong' part. Hmm, I'm looking forward to seeing his reaction to Rob Scott's claim in the Grimsby Telegraph that un-man of the match Anthony Church "put in a hard-working display... running around and tackling", and comparing him to Nobby Stiles in the '66 World Cup.

Earlier this year I took voluntary redundancy from a job I'd done for over 30 years. Without work and, more recently, much football to occupy my mind I have taken to baking, gardening, sewing and voluntary work to fill the gap. If this keeps up I can see myself joining the Women's Institute. I have no plans to get another job so it's down to Town to save me - come on you Mariners, I need you!