Cod Almighty | Diary

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1 March 2018

Casual Diary writes: With the resignation of Steve Evans last night the GTFC Twitterati got all excited – some calling for his appointment and others begging for it not to be him. The chances of Evans jumping the good ship Field Mill and heading to Blundell Park were always at best remote. Needless to say, those who predicted his destination would be Peterborough and the company of that other rotund chancer Barry Fry were correct.

The fact that Evans definitely knows how to put together a team makes it all the more galling that I wouldn't have him within a mile of BP. And the contrast between these future visions of Town couldn't be greater. You have an Evans-inspired GTFC sullying God's golden acre on the one hand. On the other, a marauding team of home-grown youngsters passing their way to victory, as suggested in Dave Roberts' excellent piece about the Youth Development Association.

I've no idea if it's because I'm of a certain vintage, brought up on the great team of the early 80s, that I'm more dewy-eyed than most for a youth product. But I do crave a team of Harry Cliftons over the sort of jobbing loanees and journeymen who took us out of the League in 2010 and are on the the brink of doing so again.

As Dave's article pointed to, youngsters brought up within the sight of the Dock Tower, or who arrive at a tender age and tarry a while, get a feel for our town and the uniqueness of its inhabitants' mentality.

Alan Buckley is the most successful Town manager ever and Paul Hurst got us back our League place. Neither will be remembered with the fondness of Lawrie McMenemy or George Kerr, both of whom had shorter spells in the hotseat. The reason is that the former two just never got the town like the latter. Kerr and McMenemy instinctively understood what it took to be loved by the place – and consequently their teams understood it too.

I can remember being in the Tavern and Bobby Cumming was happily sat at the bar enjoying a midweek pint. It may have been the era, but the players just seemed closer to us and cut from the same cloth. The difference was that, though Cumming was no native, he'd been here from youth. Like McDermott later, he just knew.

I've made no secret that I'm in favour of a fan-owned club. Had someone asked me about my vision of that club, I could've written Dave's article. Just not as well as Dave did.