Cod Almighty | Diary

Off the fence

29 May 2018

We are by no means out of danger. The immediate threat has been removed. Grimsby Town's 2018-19 squad will not have been recruited and coached by Russell Slade. Good. But Michael Jolley will still have to recruit a squad under the same restrictions which meant that when Paul Hurst tried to build on the play-off success of 2016 he found that he could not keep the players – Pádraig Amond, Nathan Arnold, Toto Nsiala, Richard Tait – he had announced he wanted to keep.

The same board that is adept only at making success taste like chalk almost at the very moment of triumph itself is still in charge. In the last year, they have almost revelled in demonstrating their contempt for supporters. For the organisation that represents supporters, that poses a dilemma. But not very much of one. It either is a supporters' trust, or it is not one.

Six months ago, Mariners Trust members were told that the trust could not take decisions until it had heard from its members. It has heard, but does it want to listen? In the latest trust board minutes, there is only the most cryptic reference to the results of its survey which showed overwhelming rejection of the £30,000 which the trust pays to have a representative on the club board.

The survey also showed that members are firmly against a Checkatrade Trophy in which B teams participate. Yet the minutes raise "the question that has come from the club whether we can support the Checkatrade trophy next season. The board
discuss the pros and cons but remain very split in our personal opinions. It is thought that the new manager may be able to add a more positive spin. No real decision made, could be discussed again next meeting."

Woolly drafting, the Trust has clarified, but in Middle-Aged Diary's experience woolly drafting is often the result either of woolly thinking or of the wool being pulled over people's eyes.

Why is the trust board, which a few months ago said it had no power to act on anything without asking its members first, now balancing their own "personal opinions" against the views of its members? What do they expect to change that would affect the overwhelming mandate they have had from their members? The trust has one source of strength: that it represents fans. Lose that and a place on the club board is an irrelevance.

And what do the club board and the trust board hope would happen if the trust did come out in support of the trophy? Does anyone imagine fans will say well, I used to think watching Grimsby play the stiffs of some second-flight team was a waste of time and money, but now the chair of the Mariners Trust has said it's a good idea, not only am I going myself – I'm going to buy all my friends, family and their pet booby birds tickets as well?

It could play out like this. Michael Jolley will be persuaded to stake a bit of his popularity on a statement in support of the trophy. Then a quick poll will be run: Do you agree with Michael Jolley that Town should take part in the Checkatrade Trophy, guaranteeing the club £X that can be spent on building the squad? Perhaps the results of the poll will be enough to give the trust board the fig leaf that they need. But still no-one will go to watch the matches.

Jolley's reputation won't suffer. That will stand or fall by the teams he puts out in the league. But the trust will have shot itself – not in the foot but the heart.