Cod Almighty | Diary

I'll have an ouzo and red lemonade please

21 September 2017

It's another 'over to you' diary today.

Cod Almighty have heard twice from Phil Storr. Yesterday's diary, he says, was spoilt by the use of a swear word, suggesting it was ill-fitted in a paragraph about journalistic standards. This suggests Phil probably doesn't read the Guardian, and perhaps keeps his ears shut at Blundell Park as well. I would say original/regular Diary is unavailable for comment, but that would be a white lie; let's just say his comment, if published, would compound the error in Phil's eyes.

Phil was more impressed with Rich Lord's eloquence. Both Rich and Phil wrote after the Mansfield game and before we beat Accrington and Yeovil: "Things must be bad when two separate sets of Scunny season ticket holders sympathised with my wife and me yesterday at our current plight."

We think Mason was also responding to Rich's article, though it could be one of a few diaries:

"Having been to a few more matches this season than I went to last I have seen some good and some bad football. I think as the season progresses there will be a vast improvement from what most if not all fans of this football club witnessed when we were under the previous incumbent. To say we were lucky to still be in the Football League is an understatement in my opinion!

"In the first respect the team had no idea in the tactics that were thrown at them and had no faith in the person doing the throwing. In the second the fact that the person in charge had the audacity to face the crowd showed that, no matter what happened, he and no-one else was correct. The fact that the leading striker left our club shortly after the manager took up his tenure was a signal to me at least of how our supreme leader would captain our ship. I don't like dragging people through mud but when it's necessary I'll do it.

"Nevertheless after Bignot's departure the sun came out, in my world at least.
Mr Slade has assembled a team, much like Paul Hurst has done and every other team manager has done in the past and will do in the future.

"There will always be those who do not fit, whether one finds oneself on a building site, doctor's surgery or in a pub out in the sticks. It's just a fact of life. I listened to Russell Slade's interview after the match and thought yep he's getting a handle on the dynamics of the personalities that play on the pitch and wisely or not he's letting them sort out their differences and finding their pecking order. All groups do that animal, insect and minerals too, especially in a new environment people need to contend with all sorts of social aspects which may put them out of their stride and I guess it's up to us as supporters to give them a warm welcome and show them the best of what we as 'locals' have to offer.

"If we can help them to succeed in their career here then our team as well as our Town will benefit. That was shown when the support for the club as a whole became more positive, helping Paul Hurst's side grow into their stride.

"As well, I'm glad to see some homegrown youth in the squad and would love for them to get some game time as well as the other squad members.

"My message in the end is as it has been the last five or so years: 'Keep the faith our time is nigh!'

"Always and forever Up the Mariners."

Middle-Aged Diary admits to hastily working out how many more wins we needed for safety on the train home from Crewe, but that was post-debacle paranoia; relegation was never a serious possibility. I've no wish to turn Marcus Bignot into the prince over the water – some of his decisions were bizarre, and methods he had no doubt employed with success at Solihull were never likely to wash at a Football League club, especially with deadly John angling to get his mate back at Blundell Park. I suspect Chester will do well for having in Bignot a manager who has learnt from his time at Grimsby. Mason's evaluation of him feels unfairly one-sided.

However, we're grateful to Mason for telling us about minerals sorting out their differences. We're still not sure how that works, but as a result of the discussion about it at Cod Almighty Towers, I'm pretty sure Wicklow Diary promised to bring a few bottles of something called red lemonade with him next time he's in Cleethorpes. Introduce it to Dave Smith and we could have an Irish soft drinks maker sponsoring our socks next season.