Cod Almighty | Diary

Why children are better than football

13 August 2013

The question most right-thinking Town fans are asking today, following Paul Hurst's denial that there was a row with Richard Brodie last spring, is surely "Why on earth not?"

So let's not dignify the former Town loanee and current Gateshead player with any more space than he deserves. Tonight, the Mariners take their unbeaten start to the season to the Heed's International Stadium, knowing that a win will have them firmly in the promotion shake-up. Hurst is not fazed by Town's disappointing early season form which sees them poised perilously just one point above the relegation places, promising/threatening (delete as applicable) that the "new" 4-3-3 system (which bears no resemblance to previous 4-3-3 systems which have been tried in August and discarded in September) will stay.

At least that's what your Middle-Aged Diary thinks, anyway. Read beyond the headline of the Telegraph article, with its assertive 'quote', and it becomes hard to tell. What Hurst is actually reported as saying is: "We'll pick the team and system which we feel is best to play at Gateshead" without specifying whether that system is 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 1-1-8 (that suggestion is for the Hull "Tigers"; think of the sponsorship opportunities). See our match preview for more.

Maintaining Miss Guest Diary's analogy from yesterday, seasons, like babies, are messy things. Before they are born, you imagine the very best or the very worst for them, paying lip-service to the reality of inconvenient feeds, disturbed sleep and dirty nappies. Later, you don't even think that your child never showed the smallest signs of being a Beethoven or a beast, just as your team never embarked on a flawless winning run, and was not still casting around for its first point come the end of October either. You still find you have been rewarded, watching and helping as the child grows.