Cod Almighty | Diary
The internet doesn't forget
12 May 2021
9 March. Carlisle hurl a 93rd minute grenade cunningly disguised as a throw into Town’s penalty area. Amid jostling and missed headers, Luke Waterfall makes a split second decision to head instead of hoof. He stoops, they score. Two points are gone as the ball nestles in the Town net.
5 April. Ten seconds of play remain as the Cheltenham keeper Griffiths places the ball for a goal-kick. The ref is poised to do what they teach you on day one of ref school and blow the full time whistle after a keeper's welly. Seats would be slapping back into place all over a Covid-free BP. But, tarry a moment. Griffiths - that's actually his name not a Grimified Griffith - slips on his arse and shanks the ball to Jim Hanson. A deft nod into the path of Matt Green. Will he loft it over the onrushing Griffithses or take it around him? Neither. Seconds later, the referee's whistle blows to signal the end of the game and another two points have gone.
Daubney Diary is not a neuroscientist or a mindreader and can't tell you what exactly happened in the heads of Green and Waterfall in crucial split seconds. I'm going to take an educated guess that the months of online abuse both received didn't help. At the time of writing, Paul Hurst's retained list has not been announced. Waterfall is contracted to 2022 but it's not certain either player will be at Town next season. I doubt if they will miss us if they aren't.
Do they steer clear of Twitter and Facebook altogether? Do their family and friends warn them off? What does it do to your mental health and that of your loved ones? What a horrible feeling it must be to have a bad day at work and then have hundreds of messages from people who can only dream of having your talent call you a cunt. The tweets that greeted their signings with the "give it 100 per cent, that's all we ask" all sound rather hollow now.
It's a tweet that is as predictable as the Waterfall pile-on after the Exeter opener in the defeat that confirmed relegation. Waterfall has given his all this season. As mentioned, thanks to a mid-season extension, he's also signed up for another year. Anyone wanting to come to GY in the past few years isn't that rare. As tallied by OnThisGTFCDay, we've used 120 players since we were promoted. What is rare is any of them wanting to stay.
I've watched every game of this godforsaken season. To pin blame on Waterfall is bollocks. He must have dents in his head from the number of headers he's won. He's not there for his ball-playing and anyway, whose confidence wouldn't be low playing in the worst team in the league.
"All fans do it". The whataboutery defence. Or I'm sure someone could pull up a CA diary that called so-and-so a tit. Go and do a Twitter search for "Green #gtfc" and put yourself in Matt's shoes. Or his family's. If you don't feel saddened, if you don't feel that you want your club to be better, I pity you. As for all other clubs' fans being as bad, I don't think that's true. Even if it were, I want our club to be better. This isn't a muttered expletive on a terrace or in a pub that disappears as soon as it's uttered. It's on the internet and the internet doesn't forget.
We've a manager who filters players and people to such a degree that he's prepared not to name a full bench if he's thinks they fall short of his standards. That Green and Waterfall were both trusted by this man is not enough. For people who appear to watch so much football and get so consumed by it, I'm stunned that they appear to learn so little. That as a group they don't evolve. There is always a boo-boy. Always. Even in a good team, someone has to get the hammer.
Is it worth stopping to look at examples like Jamille Matt, a player who got that hammer a lot during his spell here but who has thrived at every club he's been at except Town. He's been nominated for the divisional player of the season. Could it be more than just rubbish facilities at Cheapside that componded his poor form here?
The Mariners Trust have reached their highest number of members, in excess of 1,400. Is that a lot? I don't know: seems low to me for a club with a hardcore of around 5,000 who attend games and thousands of exiles. Maybe they are waiting to see what the trust is going to do in this new era. Will it continue to be a hard-working supporters club and fundraiser or something else? (This isn't a criticism by the way) Changing the attitudes of fans and showing them that calling your own players useless twats might be a tough one to tackle but it's one that someone should.