Cod Almighty | Diary
Thirty years ago today we saved our souls
23 October 2018
It is called the luck of the draw for a reason. It isn't always unkind to us. Think of Brian Laws falling victim to the Grimsby Reaper, and the splendid resonance of Bolton Wanderers versus Grimsby Town, a match made for Pathe News.
But yes, last night's FA Cup draw was about as unappetising as it could have been. It is a home game, so there is no rational question of a boycott. Personally, though, Middle-Aged Diary cannot bear the idea of sharing my sport – the thing I do for love, when the work of the week is over – with people who can bring themselves to follow a team built on an act of theft. I don't know, and I don't much care, if that makes me 'more of a fan' or 'less of a fan' than you. Comparing the sizes of our fanhood is something we should grow out of at the age of nine.
But it's the FA Cup dammit. My head is filled with images of fans perched on trees at Hereford's Edgar Street, Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe half running, half skipping across the Wembley turf. I can still give chapter and verse on the flu that took goalkeeper George Tweedy out of our 1939 semi-final and the collision that took his deputy off on a stretcher. I still dream "if only".
It is also the 30th anniversary of what is, I suspect (tell us if I'm wrong), our finest FA Cup run since 1939.
So here is a rare treat for you: an excerpt from one of the dummy Cod Almighty diaries we were producing from the mid-1980s onwards until we were finally ready to go live in 2002...
| Tuesday 1 November 1988 Bloody hell, we've drawn Wolves at home in the cup. Take a look at that yawning gap at the top of the third division, and feel faint. Still, where there is a will, there's a way. Steve Bull might decide you can have too Mutch of a good thing (that joke copyright Shoot magazine, don't blame us) and decide he can't face a day by the Humber. A month ago we would probably have saved him the trouble and awarded Wolves the tie to save ourselves the humiliation. However, we showed a certain resolution in coming from behind to beat Halifax last Saturday, giving us two home wins in a row, and four home games unbeaten. Fortress Blundell Park it isn't. Yet. But the signs are, if not good, then better. Match reporter Tony Butcher has been in touch to say he ran into John Cockerill this morning and told him he needed to work harder on his corners. That's either a prog rock reference or a sound piece of tactical advice. Which, we may find out on 19 November. |
Back to today, and tonight's game at home to Colchester, fifth in the table and with two straight wins to their name. Michael Jolley says of United: "I think they’ve benefitted from having the same people in place and having a strategy in place over a lengthy period of time that has seen them emerge as a really good side at this level." He almost certainly added "hint, hint" but Telegraph journo James Findlater edited it out.
Enjoy the game.