Cod Almighty | Diary
Two tales of adversity
3 November 2020
Casual Diary writes: Tuesday and matchday. The news on the playing side is that James Tilley has joined Owura Edwards and Elliott Hewitt on the sidelines. Those who saw the collision that led to his injury will not be surprised. That he joins our other most creative player on the injured list is concerning. Tilley and Edwards have been high points in a season that is in danger of falling flat. In the last three games Town have had plenty of possession but achieved little with it. Amid passes played sideways or backwards, only a very small percentage of that possession has involved anything that could be classed as a killer pass.
The team that turned over unbeaten Cheltenham with such ease and fought it's way to victory at Orient seems a distant memory. While James McKeown redeemed one of the four points he'd cost us in the previous two games, and emphasised his pedigree as a great shot stopper, there was little else to be pleased about at Stevenage.
Our opponents tonight are Barrow, one of the teams a little unlucky to fail to secure re-election in the 1970s. Barrow slipped out of the League as Town basked in the glory of a totally unexpected championship in 1972. Just two years before, when we endured our own brush with re-election Barrow were relegated from Division Three. Only two seasons before that, they had achieved their highest ever league position of 8th, for a while topping the third flight. Financial difficulties and the need to sell their best players continued their demise.
They were expelled having sought re-election on consecutive seasons. One of the main reasons given was that, in a bid to increase revenue, the club had installed a speedway track around their Holker Street pitch. It is difficult to see why this was an issue: Bristol Rovers had a greyhound track around theirs. The truth was probably that Barrow, like Workington who followed them out of the League a few seasons later, were just in the wrong position geographically, too costly for most clubs to travel to. That, and a love in with Hereford United following their FA Cup exploits against Newcastle.
There is little doubt that automatic relegation and promotion is far better than the old re-election votes, which were at best arbitrary, if not corrupt. Hereford were far from the most successful non-League club at the time of their elevation. How much fear of electing a vibrant, successful club played in the votes process can only be speculated on. It was surely a factor in the votes given to serial underachievers of that time like Rochdale, Crewe, Newport, Hartlepool, Darlington and Scunthorpe.
While Town take on Barrow tonight, another club who were the beneficiaries of a somewhat starry-eyed elevation to League status will take to the pitch some 200 miles away in Wimbledon. That pitch will be in Plough Lane and, continuing a theme, on the site of an old greyhound stadium. It marks their return to the spiritual home they left in 1991 following the Taylor Report, and should raise a smile on any true football fan's face. That they do so eight places and four points above the franchise which stole their original place should mean you can't smile wide enough.
All this has been achieved by a club owned and run entirely by their fans. No financial dopers, no chairman or major shareholder cutting their cloth to suit while taking out £200,000 per season. Just fans. In the 18 years since they reformed, Wimbledon fans have achieved six promotions and built a 9,000 capacity ground, with scope to expand to 20,000. It is a fair assumption the land cost significantly more than that gifted to Grimsby Town in Freeman Street. They have done so on gates smaller than Town and without selling their soul.
In 16 of those 18 years, Town have been owned and run by John Fenty. We have achieved one promotion, two relegations and spent six seasons outside the Football League. We are no nearer laying a brick on a new stadium than we were in 2004, and our present one has been neglected and run down.
Still if wasn't for John, eh? UTM