Cod Almighty | Diary

Well so could anyone

5 March 2021

Town fans can't have heroes if the entire squad changes as frequently as the kit. This story has been shared before but there’s no harm in rolling it out again. A few years back on a family outing to 'Ubbards 'Ills, Daubney Diary's dad bumped into an old friend. "That was Jack Catley... he played for Town," was Dad's reverential whisper as he walked on, in awe but still keenly guarding against the danger of Jack getting swamped from the nearby picnic benches.

Jack made only two appearances in the 1960s (back to back wins in 1963, he must feel miffed at not getting a longer run) but he came from an era when "He played for Town" was a phrase that meant something. By the time Paul Hurst first joined in 2011, the words had been devalued by a decade of flotsam and jetsam to the extent that "He played for Town" inspired scorn, not respect.

When Hurst turned us round and returned meaning to those words last time, it was more of Maersk container ship maneouvre than a Lawrie McMenemy type spin on a sixpence. Five years on and that turn is looking more like the futile manoevring the Titanic made after it had struck the iceberg.

A tad dramatic? Matt Dean's interview during the week was like an episode of Time Team as the pair of them sifted through relics and the long-forgotten names of players collecting dust in a Cheapside portacabin. Players who despite being fit, sound like they have played their last game for GTFC.

Hurst's honesty was mixed news for players like George Williams. On the one hand, it doesn't sound like George will need his boots any time soon but on the other hand I now know again that he exists; I had genuinely forgotten about him. Hurst doesn't consider Williams good enough and he doesn't consider Sean Scannell fit enough. Damn, who would have thought a player who's played a total of 40 games in 4 years could have fitness problems?

The success of Hurst's first term at Town was built on team spirit and not, as we all know, exhilirating football. The question now appears to be will the relegation timer run out before his methods bring results. Even his long-time admirers and defenders were stretched to breaking point by Tuesday's tactics against Leyton Orient. As well as a borderline drink problem, Daubney got two Jack Russell puppies over lockdown. On walks, one of them, Ted, immediately surrenders to the mostly nonplussed dogs we meet, showing off his fat little belly, helpless and at their mercy. It's probably a combination of the threat of relegation, lockdown fever and the aforementioned drinking to see Town in everything around you but Town need to be less like Ted. Get up there and bite the bugger on the nose.

None of us can take another hour of a lone striker. Will it happen against Forest Green Rovers tomorrow? Don't count on it. When asked about the 3-0 humping that Rovers received from Stevenage on Tuesday, Hurst said he is worried that Mark Cooper will be looking for a reaction and he'd prefer it if they were coming in on the back of a good result.

Hursty. Come on, mate. FFS. You can't have it every way. Tony Butcher's match report of the Orient game summed it up: Quit arsing about and play 4-4-2.