Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 24 January 2013

24 January 2013

One of the charges frequently levelled at Alan Buckley during his three spells as GTFC manager - to the point, indeed, that it became a cliché - was that he "lacked PR skills". Your original/regular Diary always thought this more than a little ridiculous - partly because the people saying it didn't really understand what PR means, but mostly because these skills are not necessary in a good manager. If Buckley's detractors had been employed by EMI in the 1960s, one suspects, they might very well have chucked the master tapes of Revolver in the bin, complaining that, while its audaciously inventive songwriting might have power enough to change the world, the album was fatally let down by John Lennon's notorious inability to make a good cup of tea.

At any other club, the idea that a three-times-promoted, never-relegated manager would even have detractors would be laughable. At Grimsby, however, there remains a perverse minority among the support which seems entirely lacking in perspective, self-awareness, and a Scooby. If they were weird enough to fix on disliking a three-times-promoted, never-relegated manager, I suppose they'd always be clutching at straws when asked for reasons why. But what they really meant when they said Buckley "lacks PR skills" was "boohoo, sometimes that nasty man says things we don't like, he should just say boring things and tell us we're good boys all the time, now I'm going to scream and scream until I'm sick".

Managers like Lennie Lawrence gave these fans what they wanted. Lawrence - with his slick, car-salesman interview style - would never have dreamed of criticising the support, even if they fully deserved it. There, lovely PR skills for you. Completely destabilised the squad, of course, taking Town to the bottom of the league and beginning the club's incredible plunge down the divisions which, only now, ten years later, are we beginning to recover from. Great PR skills though.

When the Shouty manager unleashed his now-infamous "If you don't like it, don't facking come!" tirade less than a year and a half ago (now approaching 100,000 views on Youtube, pop pickers), I thought two things. One of them was "hmm, that's a bit lacking in PR skills, now, isn't it, Rob?" The other was "pfff, PR skills, who gives a shit? That was fucking brilliant!"

Fans are not always right. You have to spend roughly 18 seconds listening to 6:06 to realise that. And today I find myself admiring Shouty's "lack of PR skills" again, as the taller of Town's two managers takes to the Grimsby Telegraph to defend Derek Niven and roundly berate the numbskulls who cheered his withdrawal from the pitch in Tuesday night's win over Hyde. Not for Shouty the diplomatic tack of "oooh, they've paid their money, they can say what they like". No. "I was a little disappointed with the reaction to taking Derek off," he says. "We were all frustrated with the first half but we need to stick together and show some solidarity. "That goes for everybody including our 12th man - our fans."

It's not even a question of whether Niven had played well. Shouty admits that he hadn't. Nor, he adds, had several other members of the team. It's not even a question of whether you have "freedom of speech" or "the right to voice your opinion". You do. Nobody's denying you it. But as a supporter you use those rights and freedoms responsibly. Or you end up with Nicky Law in charge.

In other news today, Marcus Marshall has rejected a transfer to Luton and could return to BP on loan in time for Saturday's trip to Cambridge. Saturday's trip to Cambridge, in turn, might actually happen, with no further snow forecast in the area and temperatures slowly rising. And Andi Thanoj has received his second call-up to the Albania under-21s. There now, doesn't that feel better?