Cod Almighty | Diary

This time, more than any other time

26 July 2021

Miss Guest Diary writes: Such was my euphoria at being back in Blundell Park on Saturday that I wasn't even aware that some idiots had booed the players taking the knee until I heard it yesterday on the YouTube film of the game. Good on John Moore for calling them out.

Meanwhile, back in the Pontoon I was floating on cloud nine to be surrounded by fellow Town fans singing and cheering and clapping – though the 'fish' chant was decidedly ragged and is going to need polishing before the Bromley game. In a moment of cynicism I asked Mr Butcher how long into the game before he'd be moaning at one of the players, and his equally cynical response was "two minutes". How wrong we were. There was simply nothing to complain about until Town conceded in the 84th minute, and that was only after several senior players had been replaced by youngsters.

It took a surprisingly short time to familiarise myself with the new players, most of whom impressed. I was particularly taken with Fox, McAtee and Longe-King. And the irrepressible Erico Sousa, who has already earned himself a nickname: "It's the Irishman, John, I'm purring", says Tony Butcher. You know, Eric O'Sousa.

Of course it was only a friendly/testimonial, but it felt like a 'real' game – something McKeown also said in his post-match interview. There's no use looking back, but it's hard not to speculate how we would have done last season if we'd had this team or something similar. As it is, this Town look perfectly capable of being up around the top of the division in the coming season. We just need to sign that prolific striker and Hurst's jigsaw will be complete.

Being back in non-League has led me to start reading The Non-League Paper again. Our local newsagent closed down last year so I took the plunge and bought a postal subscription. This means the paper doesn't actually arrive till Tuesday, but it's hardly hot-off-the-press stuff anyway. Last Tuesday I was rewarded with a double page interview with our manager. I didn't learn anything new but I very much liked what Hurst had to say in response to a question about whether his and the new owners' aim is an immediate return to the league, so I am going to quote it in full:

"The aim is to be successful. To me, success is represented in lots of ways. Other people will have their own opinions of what it means and, to some, it will only mean promotion. That is our ambition, of course it is. I truly believe that we are a Football League club. But the caveat you have to apply is that there's also Notts County, Stockport, Wrexham, Southend, and many more that I haven't named. They will also feel that they are league clubs, in stature and in infrastructure. There'll be up-and-comers, at least one surprise package. To me, there are probably ten or eleven clubs with realistic ambitions on the top seven. Some will miss out, and we just need to make sure we aren't one of them."

Well said, Paul. Here's to the coming season.

UTM