Cod Almighty | Diary
Free the Short Street Two
28 July 2017
Middle-Aged Diary must start with two pieces of injury news.
The first is bad enough. Jamey Osborne will be out for five months after damaging the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee. We saw enough last season to know that Osborne can be more than just a good player; he is one of those - they come in all shapes and sizes but they don't come along too often - who can give a team it's personality. All of us are united in wishing Jamey a very successful recovery and shall, in the meantime, be re-running his "Gareth Bale eat your heart out" goal against Yeovil in our mental YouTube channel when we cannot watch it for real.
The second is still more serious. All of Grimsby Town Football Club is having to undergo a "medial protocol". The injury was self-inflicted, and then exacerbated by what some fear was a night of heavy drinking producing a noxious, nocturnal discharge. The impact of the injury is also psychological: no one can have any confidence in any news reporting emanating from Blundell Park.
Let's not get into the contortions of the club's statement about the Cleethorpes Chronicle. It says the move, to deny access to Russell Slade unless the Chronicle pays for a sponsorship package, is to create a level playing field between the handful of media organisations that report on the club. How far will the club take that, one wonders. If we are drawn against Man United in the FA Cup, will John Fenty really be saying "I'm sorry Mr Murdoch, I really can't let any of your reporters talk to Russell until you've taken out an ad in the programme."
It claims there have been complaints about the Chronicle's access to the manager in the past. Who from, one wonders again? John Tondeur, from BBC Humberside, one of the Chronicle's 'rivals', has been outspoken in criticising the club's move. Perhaps the real complaint is that Chronicle editor Nigel Lowther asked one searching question too many when Russell Slade returned to Grimsby.
The decision is the move of a bully, and a rather stupid bully at that. Imagine this scenario. The Mariners make a poor start to the season. The fan-written reports that the Chronicle will be expanding become highly critical of the selections and tactics Slade is using. For the casual fan - the one who doesn't go looking for Town news but reads it when it comes to their attention - that will be all they see. Will that make them more or less likely to turn up to games? More or less likely to get behind the team?
To reduce media access to "a duty to protect our revenue streams" is to misunderstand how a local paper can contribute to the impact of a football club. Poor John Fenty; he sees a hole and he can't help but dig. Perhaps he should have been a coal miner. The experience of being underground and dependent on his colleagues for his life might have taught him a lesson about community that he otherwise seems incapable of absorbing.
One welcome note yesterday was that the Mariners Trust is going to be asking questions about this affair. Let's hope it gets some good answers and a reversal of this cash for access scandal in short order. Let's hope it is also able to share with it's members what it discovers. It is timely that the trust is seeking your views on it's future direction and its relationship with the club as a whole. Please take the time and trouble to participate.
You remember the old joke about going to a boxing match and a game of ice hockey breaking out? Well, some football has actually broken out at Grimsby Town Football Club. Last night, a team featuring five trialists beat Winterton Rangers 7-0. Tomorrow, we play Wigan. The team may feature one or two new signings, suggests the official site. Omar Bogle has tweeted that he is "gutted" to be missing tomorrow's game, leading to speculation, more in Lincolnshire than Lancashire, that he could be on the move.
Enjoy your weekend.