The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

Absolutely

21 September 2016

"Let's ask Premier League clubs to develop under-23 sides. Split League Two into north and south and invite those under-23 sides to participate."
— John Shelton Fenty, 21 May 2016

"It's absolutely taboo. There's not a single club that would support Premier League [under-23 teams playing in the Football League]. There's no doubt about that, and I'm sure every board member at this football club is of the same mind."
— John Shelton Fenty, 20 September 2016

OK, John. You've changed your mind. We get it. Sure, we'd prefer it if you came out and said you've changed your mind. We'd respect you for that. It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. You're not admitting it, but OK. At least you've changed your mind the right way. You wanted Premier League B teams in the fourth division with us, playing regular Football League fixtures, and now, four months later, you don't.

So how about Premier League B teams in the Football League Trophy? It's clear that that the Premier League and Shaun Harvey secured approval for this by (a) springing the proposal on Football League clubs to deny them time to properly consider or consult with fans; and (b) misleading Football League clubs about the fine detail. We know it's not all your fault, John. You've had time to reflect since then, and now you know the fans feel. And it's clear that they duped you. How do you feel about all that now?

"We'd agreed to this being an under-21 intervention, which seemed acceptable. If at the time they'd have put to me that it was going to be under-23s, plus five overage players, I absolutely would not have agreed to it."
— John Shelton Fenty, 20 September 2016

So you're firmly opposed to the constitution of the Football League Trophy as it currently stands. Great – so are we. Presumably, then, it follows from this that you wouldn't, I don't know, totally contradict yourself once more by voting in favour again next time, or anything like that?

Oh.

As you might recall if you pay very close attention, I wasn't one of the 2,400 or so Town fans who made it to the away game at Notts County the other week, because my bad life choices preclude me from paying 22 quid for a game of fourth division football. So I didn't see the incident in which a small proportion of that 2,400 or so illegally crossed from the spectating area to the playing area. Prosecutions have now taken place, with fines and bans the result, along with some derision at the guilty parties' plea that their hop over the fence was an act of self-preservation in response to a crowd surge in a section of the stadium, they alleged, which was housing more fans than there were seats available.

As I say, I didn't see any of this. But I was part of another large GTFC away following at Notts County away in April 2009 – in a section of the stadium which was seemingly housing more fans than there were seats available, to the extent that problems seemed conceivable. It might just be that Town take a lot of fans to Notts County, and it might be nothing at all, but it just struck me that something similar happened at the same place, and it might be something.

Landmarks and milestones now, and as Devon Diary relayed yesterday, Town are saying the trip to Mansfield this Saturday will be the club's 5,000th game. Any statistician will tell you, however, that filters must always be applied to declarations and reckonings of this sort, and there is no universal agreement over which matches are eligible.

So some would be surprised to see that more than 250 regular league fixtures played by the Mariners over the past six seasons won't be included in the total, just because they were in the fifth tier rather than the top four. While this cut-off is a fairly arbitrary one, others are less so. No right-thinking supporter would argue that the total should include wartime league fixtures, reserve or youth team matches, testimonials, or games against Premier League B teams and Milton Keynes Dons.

Finally today, Josh Gowling has been to open a new youth centre in Immingham, Town are resorting to giving away free tickets for a B team match, and McMenemy's is taking bookings for your Christmas do, with live entertainment from either Fin Muirs or Hudson Lewis (date dependent). The club is yet to clarify whether there'll be pretend snow on the prawn cocktails, but then the club is yet to clarify a lot of things. See yers.