Cod Almighty | Diary

Pokey Mango

21 July 2016

Devon Diary writes: My kids downloaded Pokémon Go at the weekend and despite my initial misgivings about such new stuff (it's not going to be as good as Manic Miner, right?) I can understand why it's taken off in such a big way. I knew it was inevitable when that other great north Lincs institution, Steel's Cornerhouse, was tweeting about a PokéStop (a sort of virtual shop) outside of the restaurant.

So, what has it got to do with football? Is this just another desperate barrel-scraping diary while we all wonder if and when we're going to sign a striker?

The answers to these questions are, respectively: "not much at first glance" and "almost certainly". But bear with me. See, I reckon the club could make use of Pokémon Go's ridiculous popularity and addictive nature. They could view it as something to use to get kids through the turnstiles rather than something that might distract them from their local football team.

Here's how.

Like so many apps on your phone, Pokémon Go makes use of basic mapping technology so it knows where you are. But it also makes use of local and crowdsourced knowledge about the environment and hotspots. Pokémons are placed in suitable environments and PokéStops are placed at sites of monuments, churches, busy shops and the like. Pokémon Gyms are sited at busy places where players are likely to meet. This is where I reckon a club like Town could tap into the phenomenon and take advantage of the fact that they are likely to be the hotspot in North East Lincolnshire and advertise it as such.

"Hey kids! Come along to see Town play; football's great and all. Oh, and by the way, Blundell Park is also the busiest Pokémon Gym in town." A PokéStop by the shop and turnstiles? Quite possibly. Get the staff playing the game and setting lures on match day, and that combined with the inherent hotspotness (of course it's a word) will pretty much guarantee bags of the little critters for kids to collect while they wait for kick-off. 

Obviously a bit of common sense will need to be exercised by parents, as we don't want the game to be interrupted by hordes of kids chasing invisible beasts across the centre circle. Unless we're having a shocker and need the game to be abandoned.

Now, it's not my place to tell the commercial department what to do – but why not make the most of it? It's pretty much free to do so why not just give it a go? In the absence of any news about new signings, it would make a change from their website and social media being clogged up with Sky Bet and Football League guff.

Which brings us nicely on to the subject of new signings, or lack of. Once again, we're expecting a new striker to be in place by the weekend – but we probably expected that last week too and the week before. There are still plenty of players looking for a home for 2016-17 – hello Nathan! – and as Hurstses said, situations change daily and he doesn't want to rush into anything. He's also said that we have until the end of August to complete the squad, but we obviously don't want to be trying to fit new players into a new system in actual competitive games.

I've watched as much of the footage of pre-season games as is possible and followed games as best I can via Twitter and the Telegraph's live blogs and one thing that is becoming clear is why the gaffer signed Tom Bolarinwa. Tombola just loves to get the ball at his feet and take players on. Coupled to that, he's pretty strong, has the burst of pace we missed last year and he wants to shoot at goal. Basically he does what Hurstses wanted Marshall and (can I say this without getting a load of grief?) Arnold to do more of last season. Why we offered him three years when more proven players were offered just one I'm not entirely sure, but what's done is done so let's just hope it works out OK.

Will we have new faces through the door before Saturday's visit of Sheffield United? I'm done guessing. If you want to see where we are with rumours and all that then you could pop over to the Fishy, but even that's gone a bit quiet. The only thing I will add is that Gillingham don't seem to be going anywhere with Moses Emmanuel. Will he turn up at Blundell Park? 

I'm submitting the diary early today as I have to go to Taunton. Hopefully that will trigger some furious transfer activity. If it doesn't then Saturday's game against the Blades should still be a cracker. There's just something about Town v the Blades, isn't there? 

Up the Mariners!