Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Tuesday 20 December 2011
20 December 2011
In the old days, when a player was dropped from the first team, he used to go into the reserves. If there seemed very little chance of him returning to senior duty, he might be transfer-listed. If no other club moved in for his services, and he didn't come back into first-team reckoning, he would eventually be released when his contract expired.
It seems to your original/regular Diary that times have changed. We don't just drop players any more: we sack them. Darran Kempson's path is nothing new. It's been taken before. By Charles Ademeno, Barry Conlon, Lewis Gobern, Nick Hegarty, Matt Heywood, Richard Hope, Chris Jones, Gary Montgomery, Adam Proudlock, Lee Ridley, Dwayne Samuels, Peter Sweeney... and the rest whose names we've forgotten. All that really differs this time is the giddying speed of Kempson's ejection. The player had been starting every game, up to and including Newport at home on 19 November, when, we were told, he injured his ankle (despite his having remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes). The club announced the cancellation of his contract on 17 December.
So Kempson has journeyed from first team to dole queue in less than a month, and no-one failed to notice the sudden outbreak of clean sheets in his absence. Shorty and Shouty are receiving credit for their ruthlessness in making the changes necessary to strengthen a porous defence. But without that ankle injury, wouldn't Dazza still be on the pitch and the Town backline still quivering in panic every time Alfreton or Barrow gain possession?
Let's suppose, alternatively, that Kempson's injury was really an 'injury' - that Shorty and Shouty decided the man they'd put their faith in and named club captain was actually a liability, and they wanted a way to drop him without losing face. Anyone can make a mistake, of course. But a little misjudgment would look worse if it's combined with a suspicion of underhandedness.
Misjudgment and underhandedness will count for nothing, of course, if Town's managers succeed in turning round the club against all odds. The Mariners shipped goals again in overcoming Ebbsfleet last Saturday. But it was a scenario in which, until fairly recently, they'd have ended up drawing or even losing. So for now let's give credit to Shorty and Shouty for the progress they seem to be making. Only a fool would suppose the decade of mess that's been made at Blundell Park could be cleared up within a year or two. Only a fool.
The management, then, are talking of signing one or perhaps two centre-backs during January (let's go mad and have two, eh: it's not like there's no fackin' money or anything). And presumably they'll be asking Father Christmas for a new left winger as well, now that they're giving up on Jamie Green and his persistent injury gubbins. I don't know if Shorty and Shouty read the Diary, but there's a decent left winger available in the Conference just now. Seemingly unwanted by his parent club, he's playing on loan for Alfreton at the moment.
Lastly today, if you enjoy side-splitting chants about inbreeding, then there's nothing you'll enjoy more than a traditional local derby. And seemingly quite a lot of people do, because Town have sold all 1,200 tickets for the Boxing Day trip to Lincoln. The good news is that the Imps have sent 380 more, which will be on sale from now until close of play on Friday. Did I say Imps? I should have said Gimps, because that's really funny, isn't it. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, of course, but most of them can't anyway because of their webbed fingers.