Cod Almighty | Diary

My rollercoaster's got the biggest ups and downs

5 October 2020

Miss Guest Diary writes: Last week BOTB Diary pondered whether his addiction to the rollercoaster of being a Town fan was finally over, which had me thinking mine might be too. Alas no.

As I sat eating my breakfast looking out at the rain on Saturday morning, all I could think about was that I should have been going back to Blundell Park that day. Not only was that impossible, it looks like being impossible for the rest of this year, if not the whole season. For the second week running there wasn't a Town match to refuse to watch on iFollow, so we couldn't even indulge in the new routine of a trip to Cleethorpes 'as if' we were going to the game.

Sometimes we venture out for lunch on a Saturday to avoid spending the whole day slumped in front of the TV watching sport. Not this week, due to the aforementioned rain. There was plenty of sport on offer: Premier League games, a non-League game, cycling from the Giro D'Italia. Unfortunately, not the T20 cricket finals days because (a) we don't have Sky Sports, and (b) it was chucking it down in the West Midlands.

The highlight of these Saturdays is usually the mid-morning slice of cake while we tackle the quiz in the Guardian magazine. This weekend the ritual was wonderfully interrupted by the postman delivering a parcel from Nottinghamshire Cricket Club. I need to supply some background here for this to make sense.

We have been out-of-county members at Trent Bridge for a few years and renewed our membership at the end of last year as usual. We all know what happened next. There were times during the summer when the possibility of being able to attend a match at Trent Bridge was mooted, but it came to nothing. Notts acknowledged this in August and offered members the opportunity to have their membership fees refunded. Being in the fortunate position of not needing the money, we decided to waive this refund to support the club.

Saturday's parcel was our reward: two Nottinghamshire county caps! Obviously I have no use whatsoever for a cap which makes me look like Jimmy Clitheroe (one for the teenagers, there). But the accompanying letter, explaining that the awarding of a cap is a "deeply symbolic gesture" which "recognises loyalty and commitment" and was in recognition of the support we had shown in their hour of need, had me in tears. What a lovely gesture, and you can bet it has ensured I will be supporting them again next season come hell or Covid-19.

This had me pondering about my Town season ticket. Obviously it was bought in the full knowledge of the current pandemic and the possibility of not being allowed into Blundell Park and includes a no refunds clause. But if the current attendance ban means we get to see no games or only a few games this season, a similar gesture to acknowledge our support wouldn't go amiss. Maybe some shares in the club. At £100 a time, it would only be two or three each but would mean an awful lot in terms of recognising and rewarding the loyalty of us fans.

The highlight of our Saturday TV sports marathon? The game between Kings Lynn and Yeovil. A wonderful reminder of those non-League trips to places like Welling and Aldershot and Alfreton, where Town were the 'big boys' and usually won. And I got to see Dayle Southwell score a goal! UTM