Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 27 January 2012

27 January 2012

Back when Grimsby Town were rubbish - if you think hard enough, I'm sure you'll remember - Cod Almighty would be regularly accused by some supporters of seeing things through rose-tinted glasses. Now, of course, the Mariners are certain to win this season's FA Trophy and Conference Premier play-offs, with a further promotion in 2013 and entry to the FIFA Hall of Fame shortly afterwards. And sure enough, there are now Town fans who pull us up for being miserable, doom-mongering, nay-saying and downplaying the team's recent upturn in form.

With a view to staying positive, then, your original/regular Diary is going to interpret Shouty's imminent FA misconduct charge in the most optimistic way possible. The more vocal of Town's two managers is to be hauled before the authorities for, I don't know, whatever he said to the fourth official last week when an offside decision went against his team. Shouty was sent fuming to the stands, and it's true that things might not go well at the disciplinary hearing. The FA are unlikely to accept a plea of mitigation that Shouty's nerves were on edge at the time, with the game being delicately balanced at 4-0.

But when things are going well - as, generally speaking, they are - things like this have a habit of galvanising rather than hampering a team. Our management duo, by all accounts, are the masters of building team spirit. So for one thing I expect them to turn Shouty's imminent touchline ban to their advantage by creating a bunker mentality/persecution complex among the players, after the fashion of, say, Sir Alex Ferguson. For another, we could see an improvement in Town's tactical responsiveness in forthcoming games, because while the other manager is sitting up in the stands, the players may actually hear what Shorty is saying to them.

The loud one also makes today's Grimsby Telegraph, where he discusses the demands of a long season on a playing squad. Shouty has recently learned from Gary Neville's autobiography that the former England right-back "played 57 games one season because Man United were at the top of the league and doing well in the cups". Pffff. As averse as the current management may be to hearing about GTFC history, someone clearly needs a word with Shouty about the 1997-98. Not just because of Town's double of Football League Trophy and play-off success, but because the great Paul Groves clocked up 68 matches that season without so much as losing his breath.

So before we go, who's playing against Telford tomorrow? Probably the same people who played against Barrow on Tuesday, Bath last Saturday and Hornchurch the weekend before. Lincoln can't afford Rob Duffy, so the Mariners could be looking at not just an unchanged XI but an unchanged XVI. Thinking about it, Town probably can't afford Rob Duffy either, but hey, we'll worry about that in 18 months' time. Let's not be negative now!