Cod Almighty | Diary

Escape Room Vanarama. Difficulty level 10/10

8 July 2021

Trentside Diary doesn't have to tell you the fixtures are in. It seems like we've been waiting forever. Six weeks on Saturday we'll be kicking off the season at Bromley on the 21st, followed by Weymouth at home on the 28th. Grimsby Town will be on their way in the Vanarama Escape Room. The clues are laid out, it's just down to Hursty and the lads to solve as many as possible to get us out.

First up it's a good start for all the southern-based exiles. Can they make enough noise for our first three points? There are a couple of places I've needed to look up and at a quick glance there seem to be a lot of fixtures in the south, a trek from the Grimsby area. Some Tuesday night stinkers as well with Wrexham, Altrincham, Solihull Moors and Wealdstone away. Fans are going to be pretty thin on the ground for those or certainly less than it would be usually given how amazing our away support is. You do wonder what rules are used in deciding fixtures, certainly nothing about closest fixtures on weeknights. Notts County away in February is my personal favourite with a short walk to the match and then home. It’s always a good crowd and they bring a decent number to Blundell Park. What’s not to love?

Let's hope we get off to a strong start or by about September 3rd you can just imagine there will be the first rumblings on social media "I never rated Hursty and he hasn’t got a clue".

By October the first 'Hurst Out' banner will be spotted on the A180. I prefer the 'Hurst: Out of this World' that graced the flyover in 2016.

By the end of November there will be the first call to Humberside by Trev* from Grimsby for Stockwoods to get his wallet out. How long will it be till someone is comparing our worst starts under Fenty to the current season?

Let’s try not forget our current enthusiasm for all things Town. It's going to be a long season and a tough league to get out of. Add to that all those qualification rounds for the FA Cup and the FA Trophy against Healing Legion and the King’s Head Sunday League eleven. There are going to be ups and downs. I'd love it if we hit the ground running and are challenging for automatic promotion from the get go but let's cut what essentially is a new team some slack.

Some fans were frustrated at how long it took us last time. I remember walking down Grimsby Road after our Second home game back in the league. I don’t remember the game so I had to look it up, we lost to Leyton Orient, but I do remember some bloke (probably Trev*) moaning loudly about Hurst. I chipped in that he'd got us back in the league. His response? "Yeah but he took six years, I'd have done it in two". So there you have it, Don't be like Trev*! We will solve it, we will escape! UTM!

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.