Cod Almighty | Diary

A rose by any other name

5 August 2022

For me – BOTB Diary in case you were wondering – everything else in football has been overshadowed this week by the fact that Southend have called their new stand the Gilbert & Rose West Stand.

Which is a shame, because it is the eve of the first home game of the 2022-2023 season, our first back in the league. We play Northampton, who finished fourth last season and missed out in the play-offs to Mansfield. The Gilbert and Rose West Stand? They've got to be joking, right? Mind you, Town fans used to sing that really tasteless song about the Yorkshire Ripper so we can't get too high and mighty about Southend.

It will be a tough test for the Mighty Mariners, who made a disappointing start to the season with a ref-assisted defeat at Leyton Orient. Being naturally of a temperament which is best described as 'Grimsby' I tend to a melancholic and pessimistic worldview, and the absence of strikers still causes me grave concern. Strong rumours that highly-rated Canadian striker Aribim Pepple will soon be on his way here from Luton give me hope, but what about MacAtee's shoulder? Do you need a shoulder to play football? It's not golf, is it?

All town fans who want one will get a free programme tomorrow in a lovely gesture from the club. Except they won't because the early arrivals will all ask for one for their sister/brother/cousin in Fiji/ window cleaner and there will be none left by 14.37. See? I've started being all 'Grimsby' already and we've not even kicked off yet. New season? Humbug.

Anyone perturbed by my miserable outlook should remember that I gave the stripeys zero chance in last season's play-offs. As soon as we conceded the first goal against Notts Co. I pretty much put my coat on and went home to walk the dog. It was only remembering I don't have a dog which made me go back and watch our sensational recovery. Same with the next two games. Obviously my pessimism is a defensive shell against failure – a shell which is usually ineffective. I care way too much about Town, something I am reminded of by my friends and family on a weekly basis. Still, whatever happens this season, at least we haven't named one of our stands after a serial killer.

So off we go. Blundell Park will be packed, whatever the result, and we will get a chance to welcome last year's heroes, and hopefully a few of this year's as well. Next May is a long way off and anything could happen, it's a marathon not a snickers, I mean sprint, a long way to go and the rest of it. Keep the faith, and whatever you do, pay no notice to the doom-mongers, naysayers and grumpy old diarists. Onward!