Cod Almighty | Diary
Craig of the Town
10 May 2017
Wicklow Diary writes: We gathered for a crisis meeting at Cod Almighty yesterday afternoon. As original/regular Diary put it perfectly, we feared it was coming. Still, the news of Craig Disley's release hurts. It really hurts.
Yesterday is the business of football's worst day of the year. Along with Diz, we also learned that Josh Gowling, Ashley Chambers, Dan Jones and Gavin Gunning would not be offered new contracts. Josh was brave enough to go on Radio Humberside last night to talk about his news. Admirably, he was putting a positive slant on things. Leaving Town is tough but he was thankful to Russell Slade for getting him back in the fold and training again with the first team. What was that all about, Smiley Marcus? Out of the rumours of bizarre training methods, awkward communication and dressing-room fisticuffs, well, maybe some of it was true. Thanks Josh. It may only have been two and a half seasons but we certainly crammed some drama in there.
Harry Clifton is here for another year, hopefully to build on his excellent season at Grantham. There's no contract for Max Wright and Josh Venney but the door is open for them to return for pre-season training. Russell Slade wants to keep Dannys Collins and Andrew, Shaun Pearson and Ben Davies and the club are in negotiations with all four to stay.
I still can't get past Diz though.
When he signed in 2011, we'd all just about had our fill. He could have been another of the hundred names lost somewhere between half remembered and half forgotten. Town had become a parade of barren strikers, lumbering defenders and goalkeepers that somehow crept in through cracks in the scouting system. GTFC looked like the last place on earth any footballer wanted to be. Or any supporter, for that matter.
We accept many players will see GTFC as a stopping point on their career to greater things. We loved Omar but both and he and we knew he was too good for us. The stars have to align just right for you to become a modern legend at Grimsby Town. We'd more in common with Diz when he arrived. No player plans to drop out of the league and end up moving across the country when they're about to turn thirty.
How Diz approached the last six years makes him a role model for every player hitting that milestone age or reaching an apparent dip in the road. So many before chose to come for a season or two and collect a wage. Not Diz. With him we got leadership, renewed belief, goals, tears and the moment he lifted the cup at Wembley. Don't forget the Mr and Mrs Disley three fish tattoos. Just stop and think about that for a moment. Almost worth a contract alone.
What's your Diz story? For me, a moment before the game at Colchester summed him up as much as the trademark header that got us back in the game that evening. The team bus was late arriving and after a truncated warm-up, the rest of the squad hurried to the dressing room in the opposite stand. My youngest lad was a lone figure at the perimeter fence. His hopeless optimism was rewarded when Diz made time to jog over for a chat and an autograph.
The offer to Ben Davies somehow makes it a little more annoying that Diz is going. That age wasn't an issue. However, we're paying the price for allowing MB to lose the run of himself in the January sales. The credit card bill for the midfielders has arrived. Slade can't be blamed. He has to do what he thinks is best with the budget handcuffs. But sod it. When Diz got the tattoo, it should have become his choice to leave.
I still think we've made a mistake. Put a box-to-box greyhound with him and we'd have had some fun next season. He is a classy player who didn't get enough game time this season. We don't need an excuse to look at the 94th minute at Wembley but have a look at Diz's contribution. Two perfect touches bring order to a textbook non-League exchange of hoofing and barging. Those touches were still there when I saw him for the last time against Yeovil. Not to mention the perfect little sand wedge to set up Scott Vernon at Orient for my favourite goal of the season.
But Diz is priceless to GTFC beyond his footballing skill. We'll miss him for his heart and the identity he gave the team. When we lost, we knew it hurt him. The reaction at Barnet to his last goal in a Town shirt was evidence of that. No celebration, just a frustrated kick of a rogue inflatable. We lose leaders and characters like this at our peril.
A cold-hearted pragmatist could give you some guff about the badge on the front always being more important than the name on the back. You'll notice that this must be a new phrase, as it wouldn't work in those primitive days when we just had numbers on the shirt. How ever did we manage? It's a new phrase and, like most new things in football, it might be bit of a turd.
Without the names the phrase wants to so flippantly dismiss, there wouldn't be a Grimsby Town worth supporting. Bestall, Tweedy, Glover, Tees, Waters and others. The name Disley isn't in quite in this echelon. However, in terms of relative impact and where we were headed when he arrived, he is a Town legend.