Cod Almighty | Diary

You'll never leave

11 July 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: With the announcement on Friday that Giles Coke and Steve Croudson have joined as youth development coach and goalkeeping coach respectively, that brings to five the number of ex-players on the coaching staff, not forgetting Dave Smith as commercial manager, making the club feel ever more like a family.

The Coke appointment came a bit out of the blue, but social media was anticipating Steve Croudsen's return all last week, and I am thoroughly delighted. Anyone who was watching Town at the end of the last century will remember his unexpected debut against Wolves at the age of 18 when both the first- and second-choice keepers were injured. Or coming on at Portsmouth when Danny Coyne was sent off and immediately having to face a penalty, which he almost saved. Keeping a clean sheet in that Wolves games earned him the soubriquet of "The Kitten" at Cod Almighty Towers.

Steve actually made only 14 first-team appearances for Town – six in his first spell when we were in the second division and eight when he returned in 2010, by which time we'd sunk to the Conference. Somehow it felt like more; perhaps his roles at kitman and part-time goalkeeping coach along the way helped to create that illusion. I have always felt a little proprietorial towards him since sponsoring his kit a couple of time in the late 90s, so couldn't be happier to see him 'come home'.

Returning to Giles Coke, in an excellent interview with Matt Dean at the weekend Chairman Wow talked about Coke's new role on the coaching side aimed at bridging the gap between the development players and the first team. But he also mentioned that they have already been working together on projects to help players to transition after their football career has ended. Yes, we all want success on the field but to hear about this kind of work going on behind the scenes at the club is heartwarming.

Also encouraging was to hear the chairman say that any financial investment accepted by the club would only be from the right type of people doing it for the right reasons. Having said that, he was keen to stress that Town are ambitious to progress and aren't in the division just to make up the numbers. He promised an update on further improvements around the ground – including a 'tractor watch' video – so I'm still hopeful of getting my oft-expressed wish for hot water in the ladies toilets.

A 2-0 win over Cleethorpes Town on Saturday saw the pre-season underway. I didn't go myself but I am guessing it was a relatively comfortable, competent win by the lack of social media chatter about the game. Usually there's no shortage of blokes – let's face it, they are invariably blokes – keen to demonstrate their superior knowledge and judgement about tactics and formations, player recruitment and selection, etc.

I was witness to a perfect illustration of this male tendency at the weekend. I attended a talk about The Beatles by a chap called Mark Lewisohn who is described as the world's leading authority on the band. At the end of the talk there was an opportunity to ask questions and five people stepped up. The first three men took the opportunity to spout their own theories about various aspects of The Beatles and the fourth made sure everyone knew he'd read the 1700-plus page book written by the speaker. The final questioner was a woman who simply thanked the speaker for the talk and asked which is his favourite Beatle. I rest my case.

I am keen to see the team in action and was planning to go to Alfreton next Saturday. I'm not so keen at the prospect of standing on an open terrace for two hours if this heatwave keeps up. I wonder how the stewards there would feel about me taking a golf umbrella to shelter under.