Cod Almighty | Diary

All I ever wanted was a room, some books and Trudy

8 August 2018

The heroes who took us back into the Football League a little over two years ago are on the move again. Jon Nolan and Toto Nsiala have finally rejoined Paul Hurst at Ipswich, while two more members of that team yesterday moved out on loan. For various reasons Town fans will continue to watch closely.

Your original/regular Diary was disappointed that when Omar Bogle left Blundell Park it was for Wigan Athletic, a club where nothing ever quite seems stable or dependable since their artificial propulsion to the Premier League a few years ago. Sure enough, the manager who signed him, Warren Joyce, was sent on his way within weeks and Omar barely got a look-in. Peterborough and Cardiff offered only similar disappointment. A confidence player needs an environment that inspires confidence. Whether Omar will find that at Birmingham City seems debatable, but at least he's back on home turf.

So good luck to the lad, eh? I'll be rooting for the Blues more than I ever thought possible before now.

Craig Disley's departure was different in some ways. We were looking at a player nearing the end of his career rather than one closer to the beginning. Craig moved down the leagues rather than up. But it was equally traumatic for Town fans. And the outcome was similarly disappointing. Expectations that the Ginger Pirlo would rip it up big time back in the non-Leagues were largely unmet. For reasons that remain unclear, the move just hasn't seemed to work. And now the second year of his contracted spell at Alfreton will be spent back in North East Lincs, on loan to Cleethorpes Town. How odd it is that a player we were appalled to lose just 15 months ago, in the fourth tier, will now be turning out in the eighth.

Lee Angol, meanwhile, has rejected a transfer to the Mariners after his club Mansfield accepted a bid, with the notorious Salford City rumoured to be moving in on the blind side. The 24-year-old striker has apparently mumbled some guff about it didn't feel right, coincidentally just as Gary Neville could be glimpsed in the background waving large fistfuls of £50 notes.

It seems a long time ago that Town could just identify a good player at a club of lesser status and sign him. Paul Groves from Blackpool; Alan Pouton from York. In large part that's because it is a long time ago. But I wonder, too, if we're reaching a point where the league status of a club is slipping irrevocably behind other considerations when a footballer is deciding who he wants to play for. You can't always just pick up better players from a league below you any more. The increasingly professional status of non-League clubs means the financial gap has narrowed – or in some cases been erased altogether – and a player might well reject a move up the leagues because he's better off where he is.

Money isn't the only factor, of course. Sometimes it's a lifestyle choice – it can be about family and stability and logistics and all that. Dizza was already coaching young lads at GTFC so his switch to Cleethorpes Town makes practical sense. Sometimes this works in Town's favour. James McKeown could almost certainly have scored a grander monthly pay packet elsewhere had he turned down new terms at BP back in the summer. But he wanted to stay put – for other reasons.

These days Town may be struggling to attract players on a financial basis or in terms of our league status. We won't be able to casually pick up the stars of even Blackpool's first XI again any time soon. But if those aren't the only considerations for players, let's focus on those other reasons. Let's make those the reasons why players should want to come and play for Grimsby.

McKeown, of course, is the last man standing from Wembley 2016. He's been quite open about the fact that he has developed an emotional connection to this football club and this area. Shaun Pearson before him didn't really want to go, and had better offers at one point before renewing his deal at Blundell Park. He, too, had a bond with the fans and the town which helped to keep him at the club when he might have moved onwards and upwards.

And if this town knows, John Welsh knows. The Mariners' new captain spoke last week of having researched the club and got a good feeling about it. He, too, could have chosen other destinations, higher up the league, paying bigger wages. But the other reasons won out.

Fans have a part to play in establishing those "other reasons" – in making Grimsby a club that players want to join and stay with. So does the manager. Players increasingly see in managers like Michael Jolley a mentor who can help them develop and grow. And when players choose Grimsby for these reasons – the cultures of nurturing and support sustained by the coaches and the fans – we can be pretty sure they'll give more for the cause than players who are persuaded only by money or status.

Let's do all we can to make GTFC a place where players want to be, for the best possible reasons. Back the manager. Back the players. Show them John Welsh's instincts were correct. Show them what sort of club this can be. Because if we can recreate the spirit of 2016 then they'll pay us back many times over.