Cod Almighty | Diary

Speak now or forever hold your piece

7 May 2014

Good day all, your London Diary here today and yes, I'm hurting too. On Sunday I attended a wedding of a close friend from school. It was a lovely occasion seeing a pal who I have grown up with getting wed to the love of his life. But as we raised our glasses to toast the bride and groom, Town received our second red card and at what was supposed to be such a happy moment, I had never felt so depressed.

A lot of people looking as to what will happen next with the club and its personnel with some people giving a very educated suggestion as to what should happen next. Others, well, not so.

As I see it, we have a manager who, like the majority of Grimsby Town fans,  doesn't want to be in this league. I'd imagine he would dream of being in a higher league, with bigger playing budgets bringing the ability to add stability with players' contracts and attract players from higher leagues. I'd also imagine he'd love to play at stadiums that have a half-decent pitch where we can play football on the ground. On a personal level, he would probably be proud of being able to call himself a Football League manager of a Football League club.

What we all need to remember, though, is that Paul Hurst did not get us in to the situation where we are now. He was not the 'captain' of the sinking ship that took us from the second flight of English football to the darkest depths of the Conference. He is very much a part of the salvage crew who is doing his utmost best to get this ship back up and running.

You only have to look at the work Hurst has done to bring in the backbone of the squad over the last two years. Nobody knew who James McKeown was when we signed him: an unknown keeper playing for a lower-league Dutch team. Shaun Pearson, at the time a 22-year-old defender who had only played as high as the Conference North. He then signed Craig Disley, who hadn't played for a year as he had a broken ankle. Alarm bells should have been ringing for all of these players, yet we look at them like idols now, and it's all thanks to the bloke in charge.

Not that my opinion is worth anything, but I say we should be backing this manager with our all. He's come in to this marriage at a horrific stage but he's doing his bloody best. Why, at a time where we should be planning our team for next year so that we can gel well in advance are we looking at sorting the new stadium out and spending money on leaflets? The stadium won't score us goals or keep clean sheets: a team does that.

So ask the 'top dog' for stability now. Let's build on what we have, get behind this manager and blow up that haddock. Remember, for better or worse, 'til death do us part. Grimsby 'til we die.