Cod Almighty | Diary

Into the valley

27 June 2019

Casual Diary writes: A takeover seems finally to be in the offing and it is tempting to focus on that subject – but, having written in my last diary on how we the fans could take over, but it’s a temptation I will avoid. Both Trentside and original/regular diaries have more than done the topic justice previously this week already. My only comment will be that the prospective owner is, on the face of it, a decent prospect, and should the current board as ‘custodians of the club’ stand in the way then it really will be time to take to the streets.

Last weekend, desperate to find something to fill a Saturday, I journeyed along with three longstanding mates to that there London for a gig. The three bands performing were Penetration, The Skids and Buzzcocks. The first time we saw those bands we were all in our mid to late teens and Thatcher had just taken office. More relevantly, Town had just embarked on what I still consider our golden era.

1979-80 isn’t my favourite season (that will forever be 1971-72), but having secured promotion from the fourth division the previous year, the golden generation were about to embark on a campaign that would see them crowned champions and Town return to the second flight of English football for the first time in 16 seasons. They did so with a team full of home-grown talents, quite a number of whom were local. They did so having slumped to sixth bottom in late November. Each of the four lads who joined me in London were GTFC regulars at the time; sadly only I remain so. The rest are now irregular attendees: one moved away while the other two lost interest, tired of being treated as turnstile fodder.

This week the excellent @onthisGTFCday twitter account has begun showing footage of Town's game against Pompey the previous season. The one-touch football, the sight of Joe Waters gliding across the Fratton Park pitch and his sublime pass to Mick Brolly for Town’s second were a joy to behold. It has perhaps been forgotten just how good this side were and certainly on the day of the game, surrounded by Hampshire’s finest and 500 baying Pompey fans, it was a little more difficult to appreciate.

The point of this is not merely to reminisce – though that is enjoyable in its own right – but to give some hope. I have at various times recently seen the current squad described as the weakest ever. Remember that the nucleus of the George Kerr side that romped to the Division Three title had just three seasons earlier fallen with a whimper back into the bottom tier. The next season, with a few additions, they just missed out on promotion. The next, with a couple more signings, they secured it – and in 1979-80, with just one more, romped to the title after an early stutter.

Anyone who was about at the time was probably, like me, underwhelmed when John Newman arrived from Exeter. I had no idea who Kerr, his assistant, was. All I knew was they were not Lawrie McMenemy. Four seasons later, after two promotions and a near miss at a tilt for the top tier, Kerr was the new messiah.

The transformation was evolutionary. The arrivals of Biffo Barker, John Stone, Mike Lester and even Mick Brolly had not cost a lot of cash. In a world where Twitter and the web forums existed they would have no doubt been dismissed by some, as virtually all current signings are. The return of Clive Wiggington to replace Biffo, a fans' favourite, was not universally welcomed but the evolution continued. Kevin Kilmore for Gary Liddell, better received, completed the jigsaw and a budget-built squad was destined for greatness.

There has been a lot written about the current manager and about those who continued to believe even in the darkest days of last season. With the arrival yesterday of Elliott Hewitt, he has added his fourth new player to last season’s squad. Elliott Whitehouse, absent so unluckily last season, effectively makes it five. With Luke Hendrie and the Swedes added last year there is no doubt that the squad is now markedly that of Michael Jolley. He will be and should be judged on this.

If, however, things don’t start too cleverly, then resist the temptation to judge too early. Had Twitter existed in 1980 there would have been quite a few embarrassed faces when tweets re-emerged from November 1979. There would no doubt have been plenty who, Town having lost 2-0 at Wednesday, derided the manager as clueless and this team not good enough to stay in the division. They’d have got one bit right: we wouldn’t be in that division next season. Keep the faith.