Cod Almighty | Diary

The carnival is over

16 January 2017

Miss Guest Diary writes: Saturday at Blundell Park was a disappointment all round for me. It started with a botched tribute to Graham Taylor and went downhill from there.

I understand the footballing authorities had told all clubs to have a minute's applause before their games, and the introduction to this mentioned Taylor's management of Watford, Aston Villa and the England team and that he had also played more than 300 games as a professional. One assumes it was written by some PR wonk at the FA, because it made no mention of the fact that he played for six years at Grimsby, followed by nine years at Lincoln, first as a player then as manager. Did the club not have the guts or the nous to add this on to the 'official' statement? Badly done, Town.

Then there's the manner of the tribute: a minute's applause rather than a minute's silence. I wondered when clapping began to be common as a tribute and a bit of googling tells me that it was first widely used at football grounds in 2005 after the death of George Best. Apparently, one of the reasons it is popular is because it is easier to achieve: you cannot spoil applause the way even one person can spoil a silence. Isn't that just typical of corporate thinking today? Why should it be easy to mark the passing of someone important or special?

I will concede that clapping to celebrate the life and achievements of a public figure with whom you have no direct connection is acceptable. But where there is a direct link and more than a few people in the crowd will have personal memories of that person, only silence can provide the proper respect and tribute. Having lived in Watford throughout both of his spells a manager there, I certainly have my own memories – including encountering a tracksuited Taylor in WH Smith browsing the sports books.

As for not being achievable, I have been present at several impeccably observed minutes of silence this season. A couple that spring to mind are for Armistice Day at Bolton and at Crawley in memory of Paul Futcher. Badly done again, Town.

A side benefit of the minute's silence is the rush of emotion and deafening applause that usually follows, which, I am convinced, gives the team an added boost going into the game – something Town could certainly have done with on Saturday. Playing the 5-3-2 defensive formation which worked so well at Carlisle and Hartlepool was always going to be risky at Blundell Park, and so it proved. No shots on target in the entire game despite having more possession than Exeter tells it own story. If it doesn't, then Tony Butcher's match report will help you fill in the blanks.

And then there's the performance by the supporters. A larger-than-usual crowd, boosted by kids getting in free, had its usual dampening effect. Apart from a bit of moaning at the ref and a few ragged attempts to get some singing going by the diehards at one end of the Pontoon, there was largely silence. By contrast, the 245 Exeter fans who had made the trip were bouncing and singing for the entire game. When Exeter's third goal went in, the home fans left in droves: great for easing the traffic after the game for those who stayed, but bad for the morale of the players busting a gut on the pitch.

Had Marcus referred to Town support being "a joke" after Saturday's game, it would have had a very different meaning from when he said it last week at Hartlepool. Even Smiley Marcus wasn't smiling when he spoke to John Tondeur after the defeat. Or was he? Interestingly, when I listened to the interview as audio only on the BBC website, Marcus came across as quite awkward and snippy when asked a question he didn't like. Listening again on Mariners Player, this time with pictures, gave much of the interview a more friendly, almost playful, tone. Which is the real Marcus?

Whichever it is, there's no mistaking his view of Saturday's defeat. It had nothing to do with the way the team was set up, but was all about the deficiencies of technical and physical ability in the current squad – or "group" as he likes to call it. You know that old song which says if you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with. Maybe until Marcus can secure those elusive transfer targets which will fix all Town's problems, he should accept that his current "group" can't play fancy-dan formations at home and revert to good old 4-4-2. Even Shorty cottoned on to that one in the end.