Cod Almighty | Diary

It's not a results business: it's more important than that

10 November 2016

It isn't a 'results business'. Not always. Some fans like to say it now because they think it makes them sound 'in the know', sophisticated, realistic. But you know what? Middle-Aged Diary woke up to a dose of reality yesterday morning and right now he could use a bit of fantasy.

Football matters because it's one of those things we choose to do, which makes it essential that we do it right. Those who earn their living from the game need a different perspective. For the rest of us, we need to wring every last drop of satisfaction from the game, however it may come. Sometimes that comes even in defeat.

Take Shearer's lip, a copybook instance of the interaction of the professionals' and the spectators' codes. The incident has worn itself vivid into our heads. Justin Whittle jumped for a ball but Shearer, rather than compete, edged under him so that Whittle lost balance as he started to land. The movement of Whittle's elbow towards Shearer's mouth may not have been entirely necessary to regain his balance after the nudge. It might also have been a reminder that being England captain carries no privileges at Blundell Park.

Certainly the referee, Mark Halsey, saw it. The commentators tried to make out that he had ducked the decision. In fact he signalled clearly that there was no foul and play should go on. After the match, swayed by the bleating of Shearer that he wasn't going to bleat about the incident, the Sky punditry self-importantly set themselves up as a court. The ref was somehow in contempt for failing to appear before their microphones and answer to Shearer's charges. But the ref had done his job. As Newcastle players continued to moan, Halsey gestured a push. He had explained his thinking to the players and signalled it to everyone watching. What else was needed?

It wasn't the moment that made Whittle, despite his Hull background, a Town hero. Rather it epitomised why he had become a hero. Town of course lost that game. The Geordie lip scored the only goal. Who cares? Every Saturday night, we can look closely on the TV screen for a reminder of the moment our own 'Sarge' cracked Shearer's Teflon coating, a moment of equality amid the growing inequality of the game.

I can and will go on. Selhurst Park, 1996. Half-time and Town are losing 5-0. If it's a 'results business' you leave. If you did, you missed one of the best wakes ever. The game lost, we were carefree. The party that was the second half could have been no better had we been winning 5-0.

These thoughts are in my head after last Saturday. Even in defeat, we enjoyed a stirring Town performance and gave it the response and the encouragement it deserved. It was a throwback to the Buckley days when Town would regularly hand out footballing lessons but somehow lose. Then, it happened too often not to be frustrating. This season, for now at least, we are on a hit to nothing. Besides, it was a cup game in a cup we were never going to win. The performance, the occasion, was what mattered.

The thoughts were reinforced listening to Marcus Bignot talking about the dead rubber in a dead duck of a competition last night. He iterates, twice, that he doesn't like losing football matches. Even I agree it's easier to enjoy wins, and there are some games (against Forest Green for instance) where defeat would kill dead the possibility of any kind of enjoyment for days and weeks to come.

But Bignot's main emphasis last night was on learning; what he learnt, what the players learnt. Asked if the players would be training today, he grinned and said: "Of course." Some managers treat training after a defeat as a punishment. Bignot looked as though he couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't relish the chance to start putting lessons learnt into practice.

Then he goes on: when we get the ball "we'll be encouraging [the players] to be better, to go and play with personality and showcase their talent, to excite the supporters." That is almost a life lesson.

Away from home, Town are achieving the virtuous circle of supporters encouraging players and players encouraging supporters, so that players and supporters both are better. If football is a bit more than just a distraction, then a good game, played well, can help us all to be better.