Cod Almighty | Diary
Bollocks will be dropped
2 August 2019
Tomorrow's game can't come quick enough for Grimsby Town Football Club. It really has been a week to forget.
It began with stadium manager Nick Dale making inflammatory comments about our fans in the local press, which trigged a chain of events that ended with the local press reporting on the £15,000 fine that was issued to the club because its relationship with the police had broken down to such an extent that it compromised public safety by failing to act on police intelligence ahead of Port Vale’s visit in March 2018.
I mean, wow. That's some serious shit. And on a topic as serious as public safety, the club has chosen this moment to say… absolutely nothing.
It seems our majority shareholder is entirely capable of knocking out a press release once everyone's gone to bed to say that there's nothing to report on the proposed takeover. But when the public's safety has been called into question following a serious incident caused by their inadequacies and their broken relationships, there's total silence.
When fans need reassurance; when they need the club to acknowledge its failure, explain what it's done to improve things and show genuine remorse, it’s gone into its shell.
Worryingly as well, the Mariners Trust — there to represent the fans and, presumably, aware of the FA's findings — also chose to say nothing when the fine was issued last year.
When the club does something good - and the club has done good things, check out this interview with Sophie Bartup, the Grimsby Town Women FC's captain, and the contract extension for James McKeown for proof - it almost immediately drops a bollock. I mean, they're not usually as serious as this, but the clangers keep on coming. But there's no playing this down. It's a fuck-up of the highest order by everyone involved.
Of course, there are two sides to every story. It's a pity that Town are rubbish in both of them.
Unless something truly remarkable happens in the next few hours, it looks as though we'll begin the 2019-20 season under the reign of John Fenty. It was only ever speculated that the takeover would be complete before kick-off tomorrow and the timescale was likely plucked from thin air to massage the hopes of Town fans across the land.
But, like the new stadium, your West Yorkshire Diary doesn't mind waiting — as long as the right decisions are made in the end.
Attention turns to Morecambe now. You’ll find a preview of the match including team news on the official site that’s been new and superb since before our relationship with Humberside Police went to shit. You'll also find the news that Brandon Buckley and Jock Curran have gone out on loan until January to Cleethorpes and Lincoln United respectively.
Taking a little look at our head-to-head record, the Mariners won handsomely on their first ever league visit to Morecambe, back in March 2008, when Straight Peter Bore scored twice. But, more generally, it's been slim pickings against the Shrimps. I was little surprised when I discovered that our record stands at just three wins in 16 matches across all competitions — or one in the last 12, if that has greater effect.
Are we in bogey territory here? Let’s face it — given the way we played in the two seasons prior to us dropping out of the Football League, and in the two seasons since we've returned, I’d be surprised if we can find just one team that isn’t our bogey side right now.
Regardless of the result, it’ll just be nice to talk about the football again. If you're making the trip to the Lancashire coast, enjoy the match and UTM!