Cod Almighty | Diary

Glamour, Cash, Dweebs and Mathematical Proofs. Is this really Codalmighty?

25 January 2022

Game day. I had a quick rush of blood this morning. Two hours is no different to a home fixture for me. A quick check soon dampened my enthusiasm. “We have been informed by Wrexham that there will be no sale of tickets on the day of the fixture”.

Bums. That’s that out then.

I’ll have to rely on John Tondeur and Humberside for my football fix. When did fifth tier football get so self-important that you could only buy tickets in advance? I appreciate I'm an “away” fan but it cuts out that last minute decision to go to a game. That would have been my early football watching scuppered in the 70s when attendance depended totally on having enough cash left on a Saturday for a ticket and a bus back to my grandma's. For the pre-season friendly at Boston you could buy online and collect on the day and you always could at Blundell Park in the days before I got a season ticket. Judging by the queue at the ticket office, you still can.

Maybe Wrexham have just got so starry-eyed with Hollywood glamour that they think they will have a permanent full-house. Their average attendance has doubled from 4,058 to 8,113 and with a capacity of more than 10,000 they won’t have a full-house either. That's better than our average, yes, but still room for a few more. And that was before they signed Ollie Palmer.

For £300,000.

Yes £300,000! In non-league.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked him when he was with us. It was only 13 games but he did well enough with 6 goals for me to remember him. Many of our loanees disappear into the mists of time till we play them and we have that “Didn’t he play for us at some time?” conversation. When google-peering at his stats I see that his spell at Town was just about the best of his career. He only did better at Havant and Waterlooville in the league below whih probably explains why he has drifted from team to team, never more than a couple of seasons anywhere. Yes, it's the life of a lower league player but if he was scoring freely every season, surely someone would have held on to him or he would have at least progressed up the leagues? You can put money on him scoring this evening. Obvs.

Talking of ex-players, apparently Ivanooooooo Bonetti is hoping to visit Grimsby in March. For anyone who doesn’t remember that era it's difficult to describe the excitement he generated. A midfield maestro, he really was a class apart on the pitch. A bit of Italian glamour to brighten a damp, grey Saturday afternoon on the banks of the Humber. The buzz of raising cash to keep him was similar to Operation Promotion but as you will know, ended with ignominy on the part of the manager and Ivanooooooo moving on. Mmm, wonder if he knows of any prolific Italian strikers looking for a club?

Someone looking for a club may well be the currently suspended Chesterfield manager. There has been much speculation variously alleging arguments with fans, bullying club staff, accusing people of being dweebs etc. Far be it from me to believe the gossip, I just hope it upsets their season. Let's hope a few others run out of steam too. We’re still in touching distance of the play-off places and I won’t give up hope until they are mathematically impossible for us.

Finally, before you run out of steam, we’re going with the new badge. I’m delighted. Not because I love the flag on the boat, I really don’t, but because it’s a show of faith in the new owners. UTM!