Cod Almighty | Diary

Doesn't it make you proud to be British we'd rather let people drown than be seen to encourage them to flee persecution or poverty?

28 October 2014

Personal misfortune can make people insular in their outlook, blinkered to the problems of others. Otherwise we might have formed a club.

Stockport County went from the second flight in 2001-02 to part-time football in the Conference North today. Luton, winners of the League Cup, went from second flight to the Conference over three seasons. Wimbledon, FA Cup winners in 1988, had their Football League status stolen from them in 2002 and to regain it had to climb from the ninth tier of the league pyramid. Cambridge were in the play-offs to become founder members of the Premier League in 1992. Instead they left the Football League by the backdoor, relegated from the fourth flight in 2005.

The decline of Oxford United, who will visit Blundell Park for the first round of the FA Cup, was less precipitate. They went from winning the League Cup in 1986, as a top flight team, to playing in the Conference in 2006. It was Oxford we needed to do us a favour on the last day of the 2005-06 season. Had they beaten Orient, and we held on to beat Northampton, they would have preserved their League status and we'd have been promoted.

All these teams have suffered slides down the leagues at least as dramatic as ours. All of them, with the exception of Stockport, are now back in the Football League. We might seriously have something to learn from an association with them. Middle-Aged Diary's first thought was the Icarus Club, but lets aspire to be a phoenix instead.

Our last match against Oxford was at the Kassam Stadium in November 2005. A last minute goal by Gary Cohen meant the even later penalty scored by the home team did not deprive us of the points in a 3-2 win. Cohen you might think would be a suitable nomination for our latest theme team, a 'Could have been a contender' XI. Go have a read and then get in your suggestions.

Whether Paul Hurst wants suggestions we don't know, but if you know of a decent enough holding midfielder looking for some Conference game time, you might want to find a tactful way of tipping our manager the wink.