Cod Almighty | Postbag
Our minds they ain't so open
13 May 2015
Right, we've been writing, and you've been writing about what we've been writing. Let's get on.
Jack
I'm so pleased London Diary told the story of Jack Johnson and his work. I've had a few smiles looking at the recent videos on Town's much improved website.
It would be a nice touch from the club to let him do the half time draw against Aldershot. Maybe someone from CA Towers could bend an ear.
from Sibbo
No place for politics?
As an exiled Mariner now living abroad, my first port of call every morning is Cod Almighty for the daily diary. Your match reports are also witty and in tune with most Town fans' "glass half full" mentality after years of abject misery. I love my club and my hometown, and I recently did the 7,000 mile round trip from New York to be at Alfreton.
That said, this diary left me shaking my head.
As a former teacher and someone also considering voting for something other than the political elite, I was disappointed that the diary swayed away from the Mariners and instead patronised teachers, academy schools and UKIP.
I'm not one to be easily offended. If I don't like what I'm reading I'll just stop reading it. But I would ask you to steer away from airing personal and political views and stick to making us smile and laugh about our football club. Of course we are all entitled to our views, but not on such a public forum, and especially not when it could rub a lot of people up the wrong way.
Up the Mariners and keep up the good work!
from Kristian Richardson
Letters Ed responds: Cod Almighty is an independent website run and written for by people who care about – variously and among other things – the Mariners, Grimsby and football. Some of our most popular features, such as the Grimmo Dictionary and articles on Chapman's Pond and Croft Baker, have strayed a long way from football. Part of what makes Cod Almighty different is that we do allow our writers to write about stuff that is, as CLR James so nearly said, 'beyond a touchline'. As the response to Mark Dillerstone's article on Wembley ticket prices (see below) makes clear, you can't keep society, and politics, out of football. Finally, we are not the BBC, although if we can present ourselves as even-handed, so much the better...
Exorcised
Thanks for today's diary. It needed to be said, and I don't think it could have been said any more eloquently than it was. It certainly exorcised some, if not all, of the demons that inhabited my psyche since about 1978.
Cheers!
from Rob McIlveen
Letters Ed responds: Having said that, Rob later described Monday's reference to the election as an interesting way to start a diary, but not for this week when the Football League waits at the end of the rainbow.
Piss-taking overheads
Mark Dillerstone asks, "How does the FA justify this price?" in his article on the ridiculously high ticket prices for the play-off final and the ticket firms' piss-taking overheads.
The answer is twofold:
1) They spent far too much on the new national stadium and need to recoup that. The national side doesn't attract punters in large enough numbers so they need to raise revenues elsewhere.
2) The FA quite simply do not give a shit about the fans and won't ever give a shit until the money dries up. In other words when fans don't attend these games. But, while and continue to pay, they'll continue charging high prices.
How many families can afford to go to the final? A family of four say with minimal concessions available, restrictions on taking food and drink into the stadium, travel to London? Be prepared to see some empty seats I reckon.
from Rich Mills
Disgusting
The FA should be ashamed at charging these prices for a Conference final, and using this system for booking tickets. Absolutely disgusting. I've been watching Grimsby for over 30 years but will not be attending this game. I am not willing to pay these prices.
FA=rip-off
from David Elliott
Watery lager and a cardboard hotdog
Good article on rip-off prices. At the end of a long trek down the country (you forgot to add in the petrol/coach/train costs) the last thing you want to feel is ripped off. And you will when you get there and see the prices of a pint of watery lager and a cardboard hotdog.
As a Wycombe fan, I'll hopefully be thinking the same thing after Thursday, but in the meantime – good luck and please smash Bristol Rovers. Nobody likes them anyway!
Cheers
from Swearmeister
Letters Ed responds: Please note, despite the author's name, that this letter is from a Wycombe fan, not Cod Almighty's original letters editor.
Too good for Cod Almighty
Brilliant article, and richly deserving of, with respect to CA, a wider audience. Hope it gets one.
Best wishes
from Rob McIlveen
May all of our wishes come true
On that eventful, awful day we lost to Burton Albion and gave up our position as a League club I was in Flagstaff, Arizona on Route 66.
On Sunday I will be on the Californian coast at the end of Route 66 and I am confident our journeys into small unknown territories will be over for good.
Admittedly I've not been on the road for five years but now is our time to start again. I am here to see my first grandchild, who should have been born yesterday (11th May). A new adventure for our daughter, her husband and child. A new chapter in my (and my wife's) lives and a new, better future for us all, including GTFC.
<*))))))><
from Jeremy Baily
Letters Ed responds: Our best wishes to Jeremy, his wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandchild, and to all of us on Sunday.
Thanks to everyone who has written, and to you for reading. Get in touch using our feedback form.