Cod Almighty | Diary

If we’d thought a bit ‘bout the end of it when we started painting the town, we’d have been aware that our love affair was too hot not to cool down.

2 August 2022

Trentside Diary writes: So, it has come to pass. The speculation has ended and John McAtee has gone. Blink, aaaand he's back!

It looks like a decent bit of business to me. Of course, we would have loved him to stay but if he'd already been offered a contract extension and hadn't signed it, it was never going to happen.

I tried to stay off reading all the speculation about it when the suggestion was made that Luton would loan him back and it was pooh-poohed by some of our esteemed football experts: "Why would they do that?" Perhaps they live in such a bubble that they don't see precedents from elsewhere. Dele being left at the Franchise Scum for the rest of the season when he'd signed for Spurs comes to mind. I'm sure there will have been others. The selling club will get something, the buying one has a signature on a contract before a feeding frenzy. It works both ways. I'm still sorry to see him go but like two parents trying to negotiate an "amicable" divorce, he's staying until next summer for the sake of the kids.

I wish him well. McAtee has such confidence that you can imagine him being successful as long as his talent is nurtured. A Drinkell or a Mendonca going on to bigger things and not slipping away like a few who have stumbled. I still cannot believe he was allowed to leave our nearest neighbours. As a free agent. Oh my goodness, the rest as they say is history.

There have been a few calls for us to get another striker in urgently. I don't disagree but as we saw last season, that’s not always an easy thing to do. We're not glamorous and we're fairly remote geographically. Last season has to count for something though. I'm just hoping that word is getting out that we are now a club where it's happening and people start taking interest. Paul Hurst is great at spotting players and getting the best out of them. Oh, and we're back in the league!

My other half went to Grimsby yesterday and so took the opportunity to collect our season tickets. I didn't want to leave it until Saturday in case there is a hell of a queue. It would be interesting to know a rough idea of how many there are left to be collected so that others can plan accordingly. It always makes me feel tense if there's a queue at the ticket office when we walk up to the ground and I don't even need to join it. I just worry about the stress of waiting as time ticks on plus the pressure on those in the office to get people through before 3 o'clock. Maybe I'm over thinking it? Maybe I'm over excited for the first home game of the season? The man on the tannoy advising you to take your seats early is going to be turned up to eleven. Bring it on.

UTM.