Cod Almighty | Diary
Echoes
27 November 2019
Miss Guest Diary writes: Before yesterday evening, the last time I recall deriving much enjoyment from a Town game was at Walsall at the end of August. I missed the reputed fine performance at Exeter, but I have seen eight games in the interim three months. Even when Town were unbeaten, my feelings have ranged from annoyance to frustration to boredom to indifference. But never much enjoyment.
I had reached the point where, even though I had bought a ticket, I just couldn't be bothered to go to Northampton on Saturday. So I wasn't expecting to have much fun last night, even though Cod Almighty's trusty match reporter had been cautiously optimistic about the Northampton performance. He said that there had been "some passing, some improvement, some idea on how Town were trying to score a goal."
He wasn't wrong. Last night's game was, by the relatively low standards of the last few months, both entertaining and enjoyable. Town created more chances than Cheltenham; they just couldn't capitalise. On another day, a couple of those chances would have gone in and we'd have got the three points I felt we deserved. But the players seemed committed and organised and, with the welcome return of little Harry Clifton, there was a some zest in the team.
It's a shame Town don't have a game on Saturday to keep the small momentum going. I presume by the time they play again on 7 December there will be a new manager who will change things around and take time to settle in. I would like to see Anthony Limbrick given a longer chance – maybe even to the end of the season – but I can't see it happening.
There is some precedent for it: when Brian Laws was sacked in November 1996, his assistant Kenny Swain shared the caretaker manager position with John Cockerill until Buckley returned at the start of the 1997-98 season. Those were different times, though. Town had different owners and directors and the world of football was different. 20 years ago managers were given more time to settle in and build a team and not expected to produce instant results.
Nowadays, if a manager hasn't achieved some kind of success in a couple of seasons, he's history. Which, looking back, makes it seem all the more remarkable that Paul Hurst was given so long to achieve promotion back to the League. A lesson which Town's current owners don't seem to have taken onboard.
So who is favourite to take over? As of yesterday, it was apparently someone called Pete Wild. No, me neither. Call me old-fashioned, but I am completely mystified as to how a newspaper can construct a story about who the next manager of a club might be based solely on a list of odds given by some bookie. Who actually wagers money on these things? And how do they know what the club's board are thinking?
Looking down the list of potential managers trotted out for Town I had a little nostalgic moment when I saw Craig Shakespeare listed as a contender. I remember as if it was yesterday the first time I saw him play: a pre-season friendly against Northampton in 1993. We weren't sure where the match was going to be staged so rang up the club who told us the ground was "in Wellingborough, behind the pub". And it was. Happy days.
I delved into one of my scrapbooks from the period to see if I had a report of the game. Alas no, but my eye was caught by the report of the opening game of that season, a goalless draw at home to Bolton. It began "Grimsby Town's new season kicked off with an echo from the past – an inability to put the ball in the back of the net." Déja vu all over again.