Cod Almighty | Diary

What did Paul Hurst ever do for Grimsby?

26 October 2018

It’s been 372 minutes – plus accumulated injury time – since the Mariners last conceded a league goal. October has been good to us. Well, to be more accurate, Town have been good in October (since months are intangible quantities that have no ability to physically affect something real). But who cares about this philosophical bullshit? It's Friday and a weekend of football is almost upon us.

So then, will the Mariners continue their excellent defensive form tomorrow at Crewe? The omens aren’t good. Many of you have probably forgotten, because it was wedged in the middle of that god-awful winless run last season, but we began 2018 with a 2-0 defeat at Gresty Road. It’s not been a happy hunting ground for us in recent seasons. In fact, you have to go back all the way to August 1999 to find the last time we picked up so much as a point from that corner of Cheshire, and we’ve lost on all five visits since then by an aggregate score of 15-2.
There have also been a couple of heavy home defeats to Alex in that time too, including the 4-0 pasting we got at the start of 2009-10, which set the tone for the rest of the season.

I'm not sure about you, but your West Yorkshire Diary has always considered Crewe to be one of the pluckier teams in the Football League. They seemed to enjoy their heyday in the second tier roughly the same time as us, and a match against Crewe always carried a bit more meaning since it was one of the very few games at that level where we could afford to fancy our chances. Not that we fared any better against them back then, either.

Crewe are a club who have tended to take the long view. Ipswich were another, at least until yesterday. I'm not too sure how I feel about Paul Hurst’s sacking from Ipswich yesterday. It's the first time he's been fired and the Tractor Boys were his fifth club. There will be a small section of Grimsby fans who will be grinning at this news because, you know, he was from Yorkshire and he cupped his ear that time at Wembley. Then there are the vast majority of us who recognised what an incredible job he did here in demanding and testing circumstances, and fully expect him to be back in work sooner rather than later.

Over at Cleethorpes Town, manager Marcus Newell has stepped down (or up, if you see it that way) to become the club's director of football. The Owls currently sit bottom of the table after 10 games although they have games in hand on the teams above. It’s surprising to see them there, given the form they showed last season (and this, in the FA Cup, where they nearly made it into the hat for the first round draw). Six years is a good stint by anyone’s measure at any level of football these days, so well done to Marcus. Here's hoping they continue their journey upwards under new manager Dave Smith (not that one).

Right then, team news for tomorrow. It seems everyone but Whitehouse, Davis and Cardwell are in contention, although I imagine plenty are short of match fitness. Jolley has options in the full back positions and across midfield, but it seems likely that he'll stick with the same side that's picked up 10 points from the last 12.

UTM