Cod Almighty | Diary
Proud to be Town
16 November 2020
Miss Guest Diary writes: To come here and share my thoughts about Town at a time when the world seems to be going to Hell in a handcart can feel self-indulgent and more than a little pointless. Never more so than during lockdown when Town haven't even played a game, as happened this week following the postponement of the match against Newport.
Although reluctant at first, I have got into the Saturday afternoon iFollow routine and in its absence this week I was casting around for a substitute. I came across a tip on Twitter from a fellow Town fan to watch the documentary Proud To Be Town about Harrogate Town's promotion to the Football League. Having fond memories of our trip there for an FA Cup qualifier in 2015, I decided to give it a go.
It is definitely well worth a watch for an insight into what it was like for lower division footballers during the first lockdown. The agonies which Harrogate's players and staff went through waiting to hear whether their season would be cancelled, they would get automatic promotion or have to go through a play off were also gripping. We all know what happened next.
What I didn't expect was to feel envious of their set-up, which has a coherence on and off the pitch. They've had the same manager for 11 years, with an assistant who was recruited from the playing staff in 2016. Their backroom staff all seem committed and sensible, as exemplified by their competent handling of the logistical challenges of training and mounting the play-off game in the midst of the lockdown. They deserved their day at Wembley and made the most of it.
Having only become a professional team in 2017, to make it from the Conference North into the League in only three seasons seems a remarkable achievement. Especially when remembering that it took us six years to get back into the League. I wonder whether Harrogate's sheer lack of baggage in terms of past glories helped. How much does all the harking back to Grimsby victories over first division teams like Liverpool and Everton and Spurs, the oft-repeated claim that 'we' hold the attendance record at Old Trafford, that our Town have played at Wembley seven times put unnecessary pressure on players and managers?
Watching Simon Weaver, the Harrogate manager, and his wife getting emotional walking up Wembley Way brought a lump to my throat. I had a fleeting moment of feeling sorry for their fans who couldn't share the day. But then I recalled it being mentioned in the film that when the club turned professional their average crowd was 200 and had only increased to 1,500. So, unlike when we first played at Wembley in 1998, there wouldn't have been thousands of fans who'd waited their whole lives to experience the moment. Just a few hundred proper fans surrounded by hangers-on and day-trippers basking in some artificial glory.
As seems often to be the case when Town don't have a game, several teams below them in the table won on Saturday, causing them to drop three places and to come within five points of the relegation places. Tomorrow's game against Hull in the Boycott Cup will give Holloway a chance for some more crop rotation before Saturday's trip to Tranmere. The last time Town won at Prenton Park was in December 1998, so the omens aren't good. Sometimes not being able to attend games at the moment can feel like a bonus rather than a hardship.
UTM