Cod Almighty | Diary

Never mind the numpties

29 October 2018

Trentside Diary writes: And so it happened. We tempted fate. No sooner had Friday's diary reflected on not conceding a goal in 372 minutes than we conceded two. To be fair, we got to 442 minutes before Crewe managed to breach our defences and, as Friday's diary pointed out, we very rarely come away from Gresty Road with anything to show for it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't be there so I've had to rely on updates from others but from all accounts we matched Crewe until lapses in concentration led to us conceding. We were "decent" for the first hour and "you can see what Jolley is trying to do". After the abomination of Slade's management, the more rational among us are pleased with the progress Town are making. Yes, we could do with a consistent goalscorer, someone we could rely on for at least 20 in the season, but our defence has been getting better as the season has gone on.

Venture on to social media after the match and there you get some numpty starting their comments with "We are just awful at the back". But then why would I be surprised? Some people only ever comment when they've got something negative to get off their chest. I suppose we should be grateful that not all of them copy in the players. It's no different at the match with a significant number who only seem to go to have a moan and only shout to criticise players.

They are probably the same people who took pleasure in Ipswich Town sacking Paul Hurst last week. I thought he should have done well there because he was experienced in putting together a team with very little budget, but obviously on this occasion his tenacity wasn't enough.

The very sad news of the helicopter accident at Leicester City on Saturday has affected fans and players alike. It would be easy to look on and think that the success that Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has brought to the club would mean that fans would love him, but we could all name owners who have splashed the cash but are really not liked. And on the other side, there are lower-league owners who have to run the club on a shoestring but are regarded with great respect for what they do for their club.

There's always a few who believe that Fenty is our saviour and maintain their naivety in believing that any loan is truly benign. Benign is a gift. One day I hope that we will have an owner that we respect or even better, that Town are a fan-owned club.

UTM