Cod Almighty | Diary

Together in electric dreams

21 December 2020

Miss Guest Diary writes: You may not be aware that there is currently a study in progress about the impact of Covid-19 on dreams, which have apparently become more frequent and more vivid for many people during the pandemic.

I have always been someone who has weird dreams and remembers them quite well, in contrast to my other half who claims he doesn't dream. It's not uncommon for me to have an anxiety dream before an important Town game. They normally take one of two forms. Either not being able to get to the match: car breaks down, train is cancelled, stuck in traffic or simply can't find the ground. Or, more bizarrely, I am at the ground but I can't see the game because the stand is somehow not adjacent to the pitch, or too far away, or I get lost trying to reach my seat.

To get a win in Saturday's game against Scunthorpe felt somehow particularly vital, not least because they were Town's opponents the last time we were allowed inside a football stadium. So having an anxiety dream on Friday wasn't a surprise, but the form it took was. In the dream I was back at school and being asked to solve a maths problem. The problem itself wasn't difficult – something about pricing up the ingredients in a recipe and working out how much it would cost to make various dishes – but I was prevented from tackling it because the pencil I'd been given had a broken point. I repeatedly sharpened it but just as I was about to start writing the lead broke again.

Whether this dream was about the seeming inability of Town to achieve any consistency this season – each win since the middle of October being followed by several losses – or actually a Covid dream caused by the inability of the government to get a grip on the spread of the virus, I'll leave you to decide.

At any rate Holloway's pencil didn't break on Saturday and Town got those important three points against Scunny. Despite being what one listener to Radio Humberside described as the worst game he'd ever seen. If Town can manage the same against Bradford tomorrow I might start to believe we can stay up this season.

How likely is that, though, when Holloway himself seemed mystified about how we'd won? Seemingly unable to supply any sort of coherent explanation when questioned by John Tondeur, he resorted to mumblings about underdogs and local derbies and having a nip of brandy. An attempt to establish his position with regard to the much-trumpeted investment in the club and seat on the board drew a rant about reading his statement from last week. And when Mr Tondeur asked why Owen Windsor had left the club and returned to West Brom he was more or less told to mind his own business.

Holloway isn't the first Town manager to get snippy with John Tondeur, but it's usually after a defeat. If I were John, I'd ask for a clause in my contract that said I didn't have to interview the Town manager on such occasions. But when the sniping happens after a victory, you know there's trouble at t'mill.

Holloway can cosy up to fans all he likes on Twitter, but he won't have my respect until he can be civil to someone from the local media just doing their job.

To end on a cheerier note: two of Town's well-known fans have been in the media recently. Lloyd Griffith was a guest on Richard Osman's House of Games last week and it's worth checking out on iPlayer. I was surprised by some of the things Lloyd didn't know, and some of those he did. And the latest edition of Backpass – a magazine about football in the 60s, 70s and 80s – has an interview with Bill Brewster about Sing When We're Fishing.

Season's greetings to you all, and UTM.