Cod Almighty | Diary

Because it's Monday

7 December 2020

Miss Guest Diary writes: Don't worry, if you're still feeling fed up about Town losing again on Saturday, I'm going to try and stay as far away from the match as I did at the weekend. Then it meant sitting at the dining table with a jigsaw and an audio book while the Mariners toiled on the TV at the other end of the room. Here it's going to be a bunch of footballing non-sequiturs and tangential Town topics. Try saying that after a glass or two of strong drink.

First up, it's a big thank you to the folks at Broadley FC who have been brightening up the days with their regular announcements of crowd favourites from the last 30 years for their legends team. The match they are hoping to stage next year to mark the 10th anniversary of the team's founding in memory of fan Richard Broadley would probably draw the biggest Town crowd for many a year, Covid-19 permitting, of course. I am imagining Tony Butcher's head exploding trying to cram into his match report all the names and phrases coined in relation to players over the years: Jones the Lump, Jones the Stick, Sgt Rock, Golden Groves, those Lever moments or Kingsley Black's free kicks which go "just over the bar", to name but a few. In the meantime, Broadley have a continual fundraiser for Blood Cancer UK which is very close to reaching its current target. Let's get it over the line before Christmas.

After reading the extract from Because It's Saturday last week, I bought a copy. Not for myself – I'm more of a trashy detective novel kind of girl these days – but Mr Butcher likes a football book now and again. He has read the chapter on Town and is prepared to say he doesn't give it a thumbs down. That's the most expansive endorsement you are likely to get from a seasoned Civil Servant.

Talking of football books, I have been re-reading Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch recently. When it first came out in 1992 I was barely two years into my life as a Town fan and read it with wry amusement, very much as a bystander. Now, not so much. I wouldn't claim my fortunes are bound up with Town's, which is what Hornby believed of himself and Arsenal through much of the book, but I can certainly recognise and identify with many of the experiences described.

Like the time Hornby's girlfriend fainted on the terrace at Cambridge United and was looked after by a friend while he continued to watch the game. This reminded me of the time in 1993 when were living in Watford and went to West Ham for a Tuesday night game. Something I ate beforehand disagreed with me and I was sick at half time, insisting halfway through the second half that I was too ill to stay. We duly left. Having gone with a friend who lived near us who was actually a QPR supporter, I suspected at the time, and it was confirmed a few years later, that it had crossed my partner's mind to ask the friend to take me home. Then I would have been outraged; now I would completely understand and go along with it.

Finally, a sad reminder that football still has a long way to go when it comes to combating racism. I am sure that, like me, many of you cringed to hear about Millwall fans booing the players for taking a knee on Saturday. Now I see that there was booing at Colchester too, and it's by no means certain that some Town fans won't follow suit when we finally get back to Blundell Park. Another reason for feeling grateful that we're still in Tier 3 lockdown. UTM.