Cod Almighty | Diary
Scunny win the sack race
24 August 2018
Wicklow Diary writes: Worrying times at Blundell Park. Good performances but it's a results business, innit? Three games without a win? We're a mere three games from the John Fenty 'six games is all you get' bad manager critical mass. No exceptions. If he could pull the trigger on Saint Lord Alan Buckley OBE after a winless first six games of the season in 2008, no one is safe. Six games, zero tolerance. Well, except for your mates. That's much like the club's attitude to lifetime bans for racist fans isn't it?
Oh look, the bloke at Scunny knows the rules, they've just sacked their gaffer. Laugh yourself silly at their tonking during the week, did you? Hull have been struggling too. What mirth. They must both be looking down at us in the basement division, saddled with paralysing debt in our decaying old ground with great envy. When is our new stadium getting here? I asked last week if anyone had seen it. I even asked the trust if the project was still a thing. No reply yet. This week I might drop them a note and ask if the trust is still a thing.
Cheer up, it's Podge away tomorrow. Get yourself over to Written in Black and White for a cracking interview with the great man. It's easy to fixate on what might have been and get pointlessly upset over how Podge was allowed to leave Town, so that's exactly what I'll do. Don't blame me, blame Written in Black and White.
Some things look better with perspective over time. That departure gets worse. Someone's selling Podge's shirt from the Welling away game on eBay. The hat-trick with the magical headers. I have a game with my kids. Name a Town shirt and say the first player that comes to mind. The 1980 Admiral: Joe Waters. The 1983 Adidas: Kev Drinkell. The 1991 Ribeiro: John Cockerill. The 2008 Nike: Danny North. You get the idea. That 2015 kit is Podge. The penalty, the volleys, the headers, that kung fu-ing of the flag in the Imperial Corner after the last minute winner against Dover. 37 goals FFS. Pádraig Amond just looked like he belonged in a Town shirt and we blew it.
He used one of those trademark headers to set up Jamille Matt for an injury time winner against Notts County during the week. I'm glad they got that out of their systems and hope they aren't planning a two daggers in the same heart encore tomorrow. Never fear, James McKeown gets into the away day spirit by giving the Telegraph a headline of 'I hate playing there!'. Come on Macca, we're already a goal down to the ex-player hex, don't dig us into a deeper hole. Actually the pitch should be relatively hole-free. The rugby lads haven't had a chance to tear it up yet. And we may be able to counter the ex-player hex with M. Rose (pen).
As the suspension bus drops off Mitch, it will be picking up Paul Dixon. The left back misses three games for his red card on Tuesday night. Tomorrow might be a tad soon for his natural replacement Richard Fox's return from injury. RHJ and Danny Collins are still out but with Luke Hendrie available, Michael Jolley has some options at the back. Still, it's not exactly a settled defence that picks itself at the moment. At least Hendrie got some minutes on Tuesday night. The other plus was those minutes proved he actually existed. With his playing history at York, Hartlepool, Shrewsbury as well as Burnley youth, I thought he was the figment of a transfer rumour site running low on material.
Up front, Wes Thomas could be ready for a start. Attacking footnote: We've struck first in all four league games. It's only a small sample but the one win out of those four might suggest that the much-mentioned 'all-important first goal' should be downgraded to just 'the first goal'. Or maybe we need the 'all-important second third and fourth goals' so we can all kick back and relax.
Two long away trips in a week then, unless you took the IFollow option in midweek. As an exile who cannot get to every game, it's a great option to have. Will I attend fewer games because of it? No chance. In fact it's probably the opposite. Seeing the terrace at Macclesfield had me booking travel for my next game. Judging the amazing 600 plus that travelled in midweek, I'm not alone in knowing there is more to supporting your club than just watching the actual match. UTM.