Cod Almighty | Diary

My team's bigger than yours

14 December 2016

Miss Guest Diary writes: This will come as no surprise to regular readers, but I confess that I love Twitter. I grew up in a house with few modern conveniences: calls were made from a telephone box, washing was done at the launderette and food kept cool in the larder rather than a fridge. Despite – or possibly because of – this, I have enthusiastically embraced technology in recent years.

My partner calls me gadget girl. I have them all: a washing machine with so many programmes it could probably launch the space shuttle, a smart TV, a laptop, a smart phone, iPod and Kindle. Online shopping – yes please. Internet banking – sign me up. Audiobooks – love 'em. TV streaming – bring it on. But probably my biggest weakness is Twitter. I am forever annoying said partner by tutting and sniggering at tweets when I should be doing something else.

I know the internet is full of trolls and morons, but I manage to keep my experience of the Twittersphere pretty positive by being very selective about who I follow. So my online world is full of witty and intelligent news, views and information, with the occasional GIF of a cat doing something cute. That is until I stray into the world of the hashtag, which I do on a regular basis for Town.

I learnt last season to avoid #gtfc for 24 hours after a defeat, when it became a cauldron of despair and invective seasoned with the occasional attempt by a rational human being to calm everyone down. This season, not so much. I think many of us have yet to come down from the high of the play-off final. I love that at least once a week someone will post a clip of Nathan Arnold's Wembley goal – and I always watch it. And the love-in that is a Marcus Bignot press conference has us all a bit too bamboozled at the moment to criticise his lack of victories.

Lately much of the Town Twitter angst appears to be caused by ill-judged posts from supporters of rival clubs who seem to think that, just because we were promoted from the non-League last year, Town are a small club with no history. This is quite possibly because most of them are under the age of 20. They take delight in describing games against their team as our "cup final". I would no more respond to these claims on Twitter than I would argue with a total stranger in the pub, but I can't resist a little riposte to a tweet about Saturday's game.

@BlackBank_DRFC (which I presume is the Doncaster equivalent of the Pontoon) has suggested that Saturday's game will be our biggest of the last 25 years. Really? Looking back, I see that Town were in the second division for almost half of the period in question, played eight times at the national stadium, and had games against top-flight opposition such as Aston Villa, Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham, Arsenal and Chelsea. According to Shakespeare, comparisons are odious, but during the time Town were in the second and third divisions, Doncaster Rovers were in the fourth division or the Conference.

Now if Black Bank had restricted his insult to the last ten years, he would have had a better case. But even then we'd still be able to boast of five trips to Wembley. And, of course, every Town fan knows that we hold the record for the highest attendance at Old Trafford for the FA Cup semi-final against Wolves in 1939.

A silver lining would be that daft boasting about the importance of Saturday's game gives extra motivation to any Town players who read it. Though, as I'm sure Marcus would say: "Hey, listen Dale, if 4,000 fans travelling to a fourth division game the Saturday before Christmas isn't sufficient motivation for the team, they shouldn't be playing football."

Also on Twitter yesterday was some useful advice from the Football Supporters' Federation about police powers following the warnings issued to fans about drinking on trains and travelling to Doncaster without a match ticket. Apparently the police have no lawful power to make you show them your ticket – but I'm willing to bet some will try.

I have never been subject to heavy-handed police tactics myself – too old and wrong gender – but I know people who have. Including a London-based Cardiff fan who was forced onto a train bound for Wales after a match at Reading a few years ago. The FSF also provided a useful link to information about police stop and search. Worth a read if you are young and male. Knowledge is power!