Cod Almighty | Diary

It's all about you

2 February 2016

Devon Diary writes: So there we have it. Another transfer window done and dusted. After we were promised additions on the final day, it didn't quite happen, and the only new face to land at Blundell Park was full back Evan Horwood.

That's not to say that January was a write-off. We had already made two decent signings in Conor Henderson and Jon Nolan, who both look like they could be players for the future if they want to stick around longer than this season. But after being linked with Michael Coulson, Armand Gnanduillet and former loanee Alex Jones earlier in the month, plus two as-yet-unnamed targets on the final day, we will now be limited to emergency loans and free agents.

Is that so bad though? Consider Darius Henderson, recently released from his contract by Scunthorpe. I'm not saying we'll sign him, or even that we're interested in signing him, but as a few folks have pointed out, he's a great player who could more than do a job for us and is currently unattached. Nolan was unattached too. See? As one window closes, another opens. 

Horwood looks good to fill the gap left by the injured Gregor Robertson, who in turn had recently claimed the position from the departed Conor Townsend. Don't take my word for it – here's what Scott Harneiss has to say:

"Evan Horwood will slot in our side really well. Fantastic pro! We had him at Darlington when I was sports therapist there. He wants to push forward and Looks to link up with forwards regularly. He will also want to be on the free kicks anywhere in and around the box. Reads the game well, good passer, simplistic on the ball, not afraid of putting a tackle in and can hit a dead ball."

Note that this is based on seeing the player in the flesh and not FM16. It's this kind of knowledge that Hurst and Doig will use when deciding who to bring in. So before you get in a flap about Horwood not being match-fit, just trust that they've done a bit more work than a glance at Soccerbase.

Don't get me wrong: I was glued to Twitter waiting for news, just like everyone else. But I'm balancing my vague disappointment with the knowledge that, in addition to the above signings, the club was working hard to attract more players. Also we haven't rushed in and bought the first player offered to us. You do know that Richard Brodie was available. Can you imagine Hurst's face when that call came in via the Blundell Park switchboard?

We have a great squad, albeit one that has suffered a few injuries lately – but is it worse than it was at the beginning of January? Is it worse because two players who couldn't break into the starting XI have moved on? Of course it isn't. Apart from that blip on Saturday we've looked pretty good for the last couple of months. Even those of us carrying the notoriously pessimistic Croft Baker gene would have to concede that Hurst has got the team playing well and that supporting Town this year has been far more enjoyable than in many recent seasons.

The positives – our squad, our goalscoring, our form, our gates – make yesterday's overreaction to the lack of signings and the overreaction to the Gateshead game far more disappointing than Hurst not managing to convince a couple more players to make the move to Cleethorpes. The majority of fans are behind the team and behind the gaffer, but that small, vocal minority are possibly more damaging to our chances than a one-off result in the north-east ever would be.

Put yourself in the position of a lower-league footballer, either a young lad aiming to progress or an older professional coming towards the end of a career and dropping down a division or two. The money isn't great in this league but it's a living and maybe you have a family to support too. When you're considering an offer from a club, you're going to look at the wage being offered and then the location. Do you relocate or commute? After that, what do you look at? The club's prospects? Do any of your friends or former colleagues work there? Probably all of these. In this respect football is like any other job. But where it differs is the fans.

Would you want to work anywhere where the 'customers' can stroll into your workplace and call you a cunt? Call you a cunt fifteen minutes into your working day after, let's say, nine successful weeks? Would you want to work somewhere where, on your first day in the job, the customers muttered about you not being good enough, or booed your arrival?

You wouldn't, would you?

If by chance you took a job and that's what happened then you'd be feeling pretty down about it and looking for a new job, of course. But why do we think we can treat footballers like this? Why should they be any different? Why for that matter should a manager, board member or director put up with it? Put yourself in their position and ask yourself, would you want to stay, would you want to play or would you want to invest in somewhere where you were abused like that?

I'm not saying this is definitely what happened but what if the two players being courted by Paul Hurst did a little research on Twitter, the Fishy or maybe Periscope? What if they spoke to Jack Mackreth or Ben Tomlinson? It's a hard enough sell for the manager and the club to attract players to non-League football in a fairly remote town without a bunch of 'supporters' undermining their efforts. Sorry guys, that's not supporting your team.

Operation Promotion was, to me, about more than the money we raised. It was about the way we seemed to have turned a number of corners; about accepting we were a non-League team and the fans, team, club and town pulling together to change it. It seemed like an end to the negativity and the abuse, but also an end to the attitude that we were too big for a 'tinpot' competition and that we had some kind of inalienable right to be in a higher league.

Maybe the fans asking where they get a refund yesterday (for OP donations) missed the point. Maybe those fans moaning about "same old Town", accusing players of not being fit to wear the shirt or questioning Hurst's abilities, should take look at themselves, listen to themselves and then ask what might actually be holding the club back. It's not our current squad of players, it's not our failure to attract another striker and it's not Hurst or a board with no ambition.

We're big enough to be in a higher league but it's not our right and it's not something we can simply buy. Promotion will be a joint effort and if the twelfth man isn't fully behind the team then it can be as big a hindrance to the whole as a want-away striker not tracking back or a midfielder with his mind on his next transfer.

OK, maybe success can be bought – but do we really want to be like Man City or Chelsea? Yes? Well, if that's what you want then you know what to do – because while you constantly whinge and bitch about every aspect of the club you claim to 'support' then you're quite possibly the only real problem.

I'll leave you with this:

support. (verb) To keep from weakening or failing; give confidence, comfort, approval and encouragement to.

Up the Mariners.