Cod Almighty | Diary

Lucky

31 July 2017

Open Diary writes: So, the waiting is nearly over. Summer is on the way out after a brief visit at the end of June. Next weekend is when it all begins anew.

Out of the blue, work has come in which means I've spent a lot of the last few weeks driving from place to place. Up and down the M1, around the M25, across the A120 and A12, on roads packed full of artics and people in flashy BMWs and Mercs. Don't tell me that Brexit means the economy is going down the tubes because everyone seems to be working flat out.

One highlight of the summer was watching Radiohead at Glastonbury, and that prompted me to stack the car's CD player with Radiohead albums. It's a bit of a toss up with The Bends but I've got to say I still prefer OK Computer. Every time I listen to Lucky it gets me thinking of Town's prospects this season. You know how it goes:

I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll

Well – pre-season has gone OK hadn't it? As well as the ritual thrashing of Winterton Rangers and a big win in Devon, we've done OK against decent opposition. Surely Barnsley, Blackburn and Wigan are a step up from the likely standard we're going to come up against this year?

Paul Dixon turned out to be the eighth signing of the summer and yet another of Bignot's questionable buys, Adi Yussuf, was off-loaded over the weekend. There may be other arrivals on the way because tomorrow is when many players' existing contracts will run out and minds will inevitably turn to the future. Everyone seems to expect a certain striker to arrive sometime soon.

This time, I feel my luck could change

You know, after all these seasons of struggle and doubt, maybe this time we have a real chance of doing well. There were times last year when you thought it might come good only to come crashing down to earth at places like Crewe, Stevenage and Barnet.

OK – so no doubt we all start every season with a sense of optimism, but maybe this time there's more real quality in the playing squad. Let's just hope we can keep them all fit and healthy. Can we get Sean McAllister match fit this time around?

Pull me out of the aircrash

Well, "pull me out of the away stand" maybe. I had that sense at Stevenage and at Barnet last year, not to mention at Wycombe and Colchester. At least Slade and Wilkinson had the chance to see the nature of the task ahead when they watched some of those end of season performances. I know we're all sorry to see Pearson go, and my mate who's a Wrexham supporter says good things about him already, but the replacements look a step up from last year. Surely we won't concede so many daft goals as we did last year?

We are standing on the edge

... of the new season. Next Saturday things start in earnest at Chesterfield. The first home league game is against Coventry City, who not so long ago were a Premiership club, and then there's Wycombe at home, and surely we can beat them at home this year? Those first games will give us a good indication as to how competitive we are going to be this year.

Just remember that we finish the season away to Forest Green which has got to be a good place to clinch promotion.