Cod Almighty | Diary

Well played the Lionesses

27 July 2022

You get two diaries today.

First of all, our condolences to the family and the many friends of Ben Curry, who died last Friday. Middle-Aged Diary didn't know Ben, but from what Daubney Diary tells me (and this is his slot really - I'm only keeping it warm for him) my life was much poorer for it:

"I got to know Ben on Twitter and had been chatting with him about Town for about two years when he one day changed his profile pic and I realised he had a disability. Social media has its problems but it was a great outlet for him. He had cerebral palsy and I, and others wouldn't have met him without Twitter as he was severely hampered by it physically. I introduced myself at Wycombe a few years back and had tried to catch him ever since. Lovely guy, and his family who were there caring for him. It made me reflect with embarassment on the stupidity of the default reaction of "leave them be" to someone in a wheelchair with an apparent difficulty in communicating."

Looking through Ben's Twitter feed, he offers a neat segue onto the second diary. As he wrote on 20 July "great news Max Wright has got a new club. Hope it works out for him". We can extend the same good wishes to Erico Sousa, who has joined Boreham Wood.

Ben also wrote this: "anyone who goes to LIV needs banning from every competition". My knowledge of golf is postage-stamp sized (you need Daubney Diary for that as well) but I do know the LIV is a Saudi-funded breakaway tour, and Ben's thoughts chime with mine on the Premier League this morning.

According to the Guardian, the latest proposal for a redistribution of football money comes not so much with strings attached as the cables from the Humber Bridge: second-flight teams would be made to play a quota of under-23 loan players.

Last week Mariners Trust members received an email with a draft commitment of engagement between the club and the trust. Amid all the routine but sensible stuff - regular fans' forums and other meetings and engagements - there is evidence of a lesson learnt: "The Club commits to fan consultation regarding any changes to the key elements of the Club identity" and it itemises the club crest as one such key element.

Below that, there is a commitment to consultation on wider national issues, and it specifies the involvement of Premier League b teams. Suddenly that is the least of our problems: the Premier League's latest thinking is to turn the entire Football League into a b league.

We need a revolution. I knew it when I was in my teens and twenties, selling socialist newspapers on street corners, and I know it again now. Football used to be a relief from worrying about the state of the world, but predatory capitalism intrudes into every sphere of life. There is no crisis that it will not exploit to strengthen its grip.

The Premier League it was claimed would benefit the English national team. Now the problem created by the top clubs stockpiling every scrap of young talent they can get their greedy hands on, even though they have no use for them, is to threaten the integrity of the league pyramid. It is grotesque that having spent 30 years distorting the game, when they are brought face to face with their malign impact, they can think only of a further distortion, giving them a say in the selection policies of their potential rivals.

What hope the team which wins promotion if so many of the players who win it belong to their opponents of next season? Who could blame the team at the top of the third flight deliberately throwing away their promotion rather than play in a glorified development league.

Last night, England's Lionesses showed how beautiful the game can be (and I was delighted to spot the two GTFC flags near one corner.) Churlish not to acknowledge that those players have been fostered by Premier League set-ups. But redirecting the resources they hog into the grassroots, with no strings, would give everyone inspired by them the opportunity to enjoy football at its fullest.

Almost better that when the European breakaway league was mooted, everyone else had just said: "Bye then. Don't slam the door on your way out". The rich clubs have become a cancer on the sport, and it needs cutting out before it spreads any further.