Cod Almighty | Diary

We're Town fans. Of course we're not happy

23 March 2021

If Town lose tonight, no one will be happy about it. Apparently that needs saying.

Some of us will take a look at the clubs in the conference, and console ourselves that we used to enjoy the trip to Chesterfield, or that Weymouth sounds like an interesting new ground to visit. Some will lament for the days when we went to Wolverhampton or West Ham as their peers. Most of us, because the human brain is a big and restless thing, will have both these thoughts, one fighting for space with the other.

Some of us will take to social media, and pronounce that player X is the worst to have ever worn black and white, that Paul Hurst should be sacked, and so should the new consortium, even before it has been installed. Some of us will turn off our phones precisely to avoid reading those opinions, the same way we might decide we fancy a quiet pint before a game, not a sing-song in the bar draped in flags. Neither behaviour makes you less, or more, of a fan.

We are all Town, but the Town-ness in us we express in different ways. So by all means let's argue the toss over whether Hurst got his selection or his substitutions wrong or right - that is part of being a fan. But let's not, ever, tell someone that because they disagree with your analysis or your response, they must be happy with our situation.

And let's leave the players out of it. One year ago, if we lost a game we maybe got behind the team for the full 90 minutes but then let off steam afterwards on the Fishy or Twitter. Tonight, they won't hear you chanting "Mariners" at your radio, but they might read you slagging them off afterwards. For tonight is not a must-win match, it is just the first in a series of must-win matches because we need to keep on winning, and the players we have now are the ones who must deliver.

If we lose tonight, some of us will meet disappointment half-way and accept our probable fate, but some will say we aren't down until we are 16 points below safety with 5 games left to play, and even then we'll be holding out for a Football League inquiry into a rival's possible use of an unregistered player. Win or lose, rage or go gently, as fans we expect our players to keep playing to the end, so let's do what we can to support them.

If we win tonight, by the way, let's throw one hell of a virtual party. There'll be a time to start worrying about Walsall, but this season, more than most, we need to take our kicks where we can find them.

We're miles away, but our hearts and our heads are with you. Play up, the Mariners.