Cod Almighty | Diary

In ten years you'll be calling Vernon a hero

19 September 2017

Bad news for away fans first of all. The heavy-handed stewarding and excessive police presence that characterised our visits to Stevenage and Mansfield look sure to continue. Stadium managers across the fourth flight are going to be upping their security plans when they learn that even the Mariners' cuddly toys managed to "take the Yeovil end".

Scott Vernon, meanwhile, is pleased he scored on Saturday. He is too tactful to mention the idiots who booed him when he was introduced, but it was actually an insight to learn that "When it's in the balance at 1-1 it's always a great time to come on as a striker. Players feel positive when they come on in those situations."

Nowadays the non-scoring striker vies with the holding midfielder for the title of Most Argued About Mariner. Where once we debated the merits of Bobby Mitchell or Stacy Coldicott, nowadays it is Vernon, Lenell John-Lewis, even Gary Jones who generate the multi-page Fishy threads.

It is not that new a phenomenon, though. Who of Middle-Aged Diary's vintage can forget the war of words – delivered in two monthly instalments and worked out to two decimal places in the pages of Sing When We're Fishing – that raged over Tony Rees?

Rees, Jones, John-Lewis and Vernon are all very different players, but they have this in common: the nous to make themselves available and then, whether through footballing skill, physical strength or a bit of both, to use the ball well. If they weren't scoring, there was a fair chance that someone else was.

Contentious in their day; heroes in retrospect. If you are still holding John-Lewis's employment at Shrewsbury as a black mark against Paul Hurst; if you booed Vernon (even to yourself), you are on the wrong side of history. These are all players whose true worth we only appreciate after the event.