Cod Almighty | Diary

There is Hope

18 January 2021

Miss Guest Diary writes: Something which has been keeping me going through the chilly winter lockdown is watching T20 cricket from Australia. The Big Bash as it is termed by those self-deprecating Aussies. Sun! Sixes! Run outs! Banter! And – best of all – spectators!

On Saturday the Sydney Sixers were wearing shirts on which the players' names had been replaced by inspirational three-word slogans written by teenage cancer sufferers. After the game these shirts were then auctioned to raise money for a cancer charity. The slogans ranged from the whimsical – What's Normal – to the matter of fact – Just Keep Going – through the predictable – Family, Friends, Hope – to the slightly surreal – Thrive in Chaos.

It got me pondering what slogans the Town team might sport to inspire them in their relegation fight. How about Score More Goals; or Keep Clean Sheet; or Pass and Move. No, we all know what it would be: Keep Us Shape.

And keep their shape is exactly what Town managed to do on Saturday. It wasn't pretty, or entertaining, but a clean sheet and a point in the context of Town's current run of form feels like a positive. This feeling was shared by many on Twitter, who recognised that Southend's current form belies their current league position. But, as usual, one person couldn't resist describing the game as the worst they'd ever seen. I resisted the temptation to tell them to get a grip.

Paul Hurst was his usual pragmatic, and somehow comforting, self when interviewed after the game. He wanted the three points but recognised that the players, though committed, simply lacked sufficient quality. But getting three players – McKeown, Waterfall and Wright – into the EFL team of the week is a step in the right direction. I still have faith that, if Hurst can attract some new blood, he will keep us in the division. But what if he can't?

Most of my recent concerns about relegation have centred around the possibility that, if the club return to non-League, the consortium of Shutes, Stockwood and Pettit might run for the hills leaving Town in the clutches of the current owners. The visit to Blundell Park on Friday by Messrs Stockwood and Pettit to meet the staff and tour the facilities has put paid to that notion. With that fear assuaged, would it be so bad if Town didn't manage to avoid relegation this season?

I sneaked a look at the Bananarama table and was pleased to see quite a few 'old friends' I'd quite like to revisit: Notts County, Barnet, Chesterfield, Halifax and Stockport, to name but a few. Thinking about the last five seasons back in the League doesn't bring to mind many high points. Yes, we took huge crowds to places like Doncaster, Derby, Bolton, Chelsea and Crystal Palace. We even took over 500 to Portsmouth on a Tuesday night. But we didn't actually win any of those games.

After the initial euphoria of getting promoted, the last five years have mostly alternated between tedium and anxiety, with only the occasional good performance. There will be those who say that it is unthinkable for Town to return to non-League. We have all encountered many 'unthinkable' things in the last year and we are still soldiering on. Come next season, I am willing to bet that the joy of actually being able to see Town play in person would outweigh the disappointment of it being against clubs like Wealdstone and Maidenhead rather than Walsall and Mansfield.

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