Cod Almighty | Diary

No three points this Saturday

20 August 2021

It looks to Middle-Aged Diary as though it is at least a week since anyone quoted back John Fenty's now-infamous line, so the time is ripe.

In the absence of an actual game tomorrow, there are things going on around Blundell Park. None of them will win us three points on a Saturday but they make the football club better. Club chair Jason Stockwood has reiterated his commitment to communicating honestly and openly with fans; let's not say "transparent" in case it conjures up images of his innards being on permanent display. The club has also joined Her Game Too, to raise awareness of sexist abuse and harassment in football.

We say they won't win three points, but to paraphrase Paul Hurst, who knows. There'll be an afternoon when we are one down, and not playing so well, with 10 minutes to play. If there are more fans in the ground because they feel not just that they belong there but that their presence is welcomed and accepted by all; if the old resentment at being treated somewhere between mere turnstile fodder and threats to public order has been removed, that could make the difference between an outbreak of boos and slammed seats, or an urge for one last push. It is only a win, but the adrenaline rush from a comeback feels like far more than three points.

It is a big if: let's just say the club is doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Of the three I've only met Kris Green, the Mariners Trust chair and board member, but neither she, Stockwood nor CEO Debbie Cook strike me as people who'd say, on being told an important phone call needs to be made, "I'm on holiday. Ask someone else to do it."

Which brings us, clumsily, to the successor to another foreign secretary. The death was reported this week of Austin Mitchell, who in 1977 replaced Antony Crosland as MP for Great Grimsby and held the seat until 2015. When we last went down to the conference, Mitchell contributed a foreword to a not very good book (much the best bits were when it quoted Tony Butcher's match reports) in which, with admirable honesty he began "I'm not going to claim to be a great football fan." but then he went on to demonstrate the importance of the Mariners to the town, and the need for a reform of football finance.

In a similar spirit, we can acknowledge our disagreements with Mitchell the politician but praise his hard work for his constituents. He also wrote about JB Priestley, which puts him on the side of the angels in Middle-Aged Diary's book. The world is poorer for his passing. Our deepest condolences to any of his family or friends who may be reading.

Enjoy your weekend; if you are wondering who Antony Crosland and JB Priestley are, you may want to spend part of it entering our new generation diarist competition. Let's hope this proves to be the last Friday for some months without a Town game to look forward to.