Cod Almighty | Diary

Tick, tock

27 August 2020

Trentside Diary writes: There was a match against a team of trialists a couple of days ago. Any idea who they were looking at? No? Me neither. It's all gone quiet after some interesting signings and Ollie saying he wanted more, so maybe there will be news over the next few days if anyone stood out.

In news of former Town players, Dean Henderson has signed a six-year contract with Manchester United. It's good to see him go on to be offered such a good deal but I hope he has a realistic stab at being their club number one or you do have to wonder what the point is. I'm sure he's on a salary that is beyond most of our imaginations but I don't understand players who stay year after year with a club to sit on the bench most of the time. Why keep getting loaned out when there would be any number of clubs who would have him as their number one? Mind you, we could probably come up with a significant list of decent players who rarely if ever play in the first division. Chelsea could probably field a second team. Whereas in the lower leagues clubs scratch around to stay solvent.

There's just over a week to go until the first cup match of the season. Some of us are getting excited about the start of the new season, others less so, as it doesn't feel real until we can actually go and watch. I hope that will change once we get underway. The friendly was a gentle start but once I'd got past the site issues, it really brought home how different the experience is watching your club with no crowd actually there cheering them on. We took going to football, along with many other things, for granted. In a possible boost to club funds all Football League matches will be available on Sky Sports or iFollow at £10 a pop.

Home games will be free to season ticket holders, but with only just over two weeks until the first league match, at the time of writing we haven’t heard anything about season ticket sales. Sure there are the ongoing uncertainties of a global pandemic but I've checked every club in the fourth division once Harrogate put their season tickets on sale tomorrow the only other clubs not to have doen so will be Forest Green Rovers and Southend United. Perhaps we'll hear something this week.

I'll watch some of the games on iFollow but it won't be the same. The coffee and food will be decent, we can enjoy a beer while watching and the toilets will be a significant upgrade but there really is nothing to replace taking your seat at Blundell Park.

UTM!