Cod Almighty | Diary

Let's oil the hinges on the trapdoor

6 August 2013

Here is a question for you. Do you believe that three teams should be promoted from the Conference? Here is another. Did you, five years ago, believe three teams should be relegated from the Football League?

Given that there will be no change made for the 2013-14 season, your Middle-Aged Diary would prefer that the staff of Grimsby Town, and indeed the media who cover the club, were focussing on our chances of finishing top of our league. However, Craig Disley was asked the question, and answered it honestly (admitting that three-down might seem less attractive if we are one of the two up this season) and in a suitably nuanced way.

His thoughts on the relative strengths of the fourth flight and the fifth chime pretty well with what we have observed over the last few seasons. The majority of fourth division sides would beat most Conference sides, but this is more a matter of fitness and organisation than technique. As Mardy Diary observed a few months ago, the Conference is not some nightmarish world of boot and blunder. On the contrary, quite the worst matches I can recall were between teams clinging to their League status, with dwelling on the ball deemed a cardinal sin (Chester v Grimsby in March 2009, anyone?). Those Conference sides with part-time squads seem resigned to the risks and willing to enjoy the ride for so long as it lasts.

If this means anything, it means I too favour three-up three-down. Paradoxically, having three sides go down might reduce the levels of fear in the lower reaches of the Football League by offering clubs a fair chance of a swift return. But then, the rules are not going to change this season, and no-one even asked me for my opinion, so I have no excuse for offering it.