Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 3 May 2013

3 May 2013

Mardy Diary writes: What is there to say? The season has finished early, players have been released and Shouty - bluffing or not - has stated that there are unlikely to be any signings any time soon. All we have to wait on is to see if Disley and Southwell sign the deals offered to them. The rest is speculation.

The reasons for the cutbacks are financial ones and, as yesterday's diary pointed out, we're hardly in a position to complain: we must cut our cloth or risk the future of the club. The Telegraph hints that the managers may look to the leagues below the Conference to unearth a few Lawsian 'rough diamonds', although Shouty doesn't actually say that they'll be doing this. But then he tends to keep his cards close to his chest, that one.

Of course, raiding the divisions below can reap rewards and McKeown, Pearson and Hearn show that you can get a quality footballer at that level. Indeed, Buckley's first team was built around a group of non-League players (when it really was non-League) and the likes of Tillson and Cockerill certainly knew how to pass the ball about. Paul Groves also came into the professional game late, having spent a number of years working his way up through non-League.

There's a belief among a certain sort of football fan that as you drop down the leagues you just get teams of hoofers who want to kick you off the pitch. The truth is that at all levels you get teams playing this type of football (and Mansfield employed it successfully this season) - but to equate all teams of a lower level than your own with the local pub team is daft really.

I've seen quite a bit of Conference North and Northern Premier level football over the years. While the quality in terms of football is generally more miss than hit, I've rarely (if ever) seen a team try to kick the opposition off the park. Mostly the teams appear to be made up of ageing ex-pros (and by ageing we're talking 36 onward) and youngsters who were released by League clubs or who were missed and are working their way up.

Sure, within that mix of teams you get the bankrolled teams building a squad of ex-pros (see Gainsborough until recently) and the phoenix clubs with a large fan base (for that level) - Chester, Halifax and so on. But mostly it's a team of players seeing out their careers alongside young lads who are inconsistent, unfit, late starters, or skilful but 'lightweight'. So it's quite amusing when people talk of sending Dayle Southwell on loan to a Conference North club to 'toughen up'. Sure, send him there to get some games and experience, but chances are he'll actually be playing among a group of players of similar ability and strength.

So deciding you're not going to BP next season because the budget has been cut and the players won't be as good is a bit previous. We have no guarantees that the players signed will be better - we can only hope at this stage. But I think recent history at the club has proved that splashing the cash doesn't necessarily bring reward: often quite the opposite.

Have a good weekend.