Cod Almighty | Diary

It's not a school of fish

9 December 2021

Mr Target Demographic writes: I assume, like me, many of you went to a school in Lincolnshire, yet I doubt that you were outnumbered almost 300-1 by Lincoln fans. Going to school where the majority of pupils and close friends of mine are Lincoln fans has certainly caused divides over the years. However, for the first time in what seems too long of a period, Lincoln are doing worse (in their respective league) than Grimsby. I do appreciate while writing that we are on a poor run of form but compared to what we all expected at the start of the season I can't say I’m too displeased.

Nevertheless, I was always called out in true rival fashion for wearing my GTFC coat. But now with increasingly positive takes both on and off the pitch I am, overall, less bothered whenever one of my friends or even a lower year mock me for my choice of football club. The new deputy head being a Town fan may also add to my sense of new-found security within school, but I think I probably owe more to John McAtee for that than anyone.

I realise as I write this that it may sound as if I was bullied in school for the club I've been supporting since birth, but that could not be further from the truth. Between me and my large group of friends it is only ever banter about how each others' clubs are respectively worse in every manner possible than the others. The language, as you can imagine, was a lot less sophisticated in reality but you get the message. We even went as far as looking at the google reviews left by away fans on the stadiums. Unfortunately, like many others, we didn't take that round. I think my favourite form of 'jeering' I have ever received by a Lincoln fan in school is the assumption that all people from Grimsby smell like fish. Funny one. Never heard that before.

As I referenced before, though, I mainly only receive comments from the younger years who are seemingly trying to be funny in front of their friends. I don't blame them, I'm guilty myself sometimes, but when you've heard them all before a million times you tend to stop seeing the funny side to them. Within my own friendship group some of us have reached that age where we accept our clubs' flaws and just get on with life. That being said, no matter how many different fronts we disagree on, all of us Lincoln or Grimsby will always share one unifying point. The amusement and joy we get seeing Scunny struggle.

You'll notice how in my entry this week I've tried to steer away from recent GTFC performances. I won't say much as I'm sure we'll all come to our own respective opinions on our own, but I would just like to say that I've seen more consistent formation in a bowl of spaghetti than in recent weeks. I would like it if just one week I could know where each of the 11 that walk out will be playing. I understand that Paul probably has good reason for his decisions. However, I know, just for me anyway, consistency of formation and position allows me to understand my role better and improve my position throughout the game/season as a whole. Weekly criticism over.

UTM.