Cod Almighty | Diary

Waiting, waiting on a sunny day, gonna chase the clouds away

26 August 2021

Trentside Diary writes: Do you remember the days of endless sunshine and playing out with your mates in the summer holidays? Or being in a caravan in Hemsby in the pouring rain with only a few board games to keep you and you little brother distracted? No? I can't remember football in the summer holidays in those days but times have changed and nowadays it's wall to wall coverage if you want and can afford it. Our current position is particularly stark with everyone else up and at 'em.

At least we're not Oldham Athletic gradually slipping down the leagues. Tables are meaningless at this point of the season but four games in and not a point to show for their efforts; it's going to be a long season. At least we still have our hopes intact. Soon, fellow Mariners, very soon we'll be in the fray.

When I think of the goodwill around the club at the moment, it appears to be still lacking in some quarters. I didn't hear the Radio Humberside interview with Jason Stockwood live but have caught up this morning having read a few of the comments on Twitter and then venturing onto the Fishy.

It would be wonderful to have the money to bring in a 20 goal a season striker but when there are clubs in our league splashing the cash, it's never going to be easy. You can't blame players with a short shelf life looking to get more cash or more than a year's contract. The chairman stated they are trying to add to and improve the squad all the time. That's all I personally need to know at the moment. If there's one thing we know about Hurst is he will be canny in any signings and players like playing for him.

The other interesting bit for me was the money Leicester paid for Ben Grist accelerating the loan repayment to our previous major shareholder. It's caused a bit of frustration, anger and disappointment and that was just my initial reaction. Like youo I imagine, I seethe when I think about it. The only consideration that lowers my blood pressure is that he's not "getting a share" of the Grist money as it first sounded, it's just paying off his "benign" loans and getting him out of our hair sooner. The sooner, the better if you ask me. We're still paying him back for his fuck-ups but at least he's history. Someone justified the need for speed because the former shareholder needs to pay a chunk to HMRC. Really, he's hardly on his uppers is he? If you still want to fight his corner, fill your boots, but he really doesn't love you, you know. He's forgotten all about you.

Back to the here and now. We're very lucky to have such decent owners. Let's keep the goodwill going whatever the start of our campaign looks like. For what it's worth, I think we'll do OK this season. It's a long-term project but we'll get there.

UTM!