Cod Almighty | Diary

Favourite Shirts

8 August 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: I'm still having trouble accepting that the new season is underway, which is crazy because I've been to both games. I think it's a combination of the surreal play-off journey, the incredibly short break between seasons and the prolonged spell of hot weather messing with my head. For the second time this summer I spent a whole game at Blundell Park without the need to reach for a jumper – simply unprecedented.

Then there's what's going on with my other half's choice of clothing for the games. Long-term readers will know that he's a bit of a magical thinker and for many years has insisted on wearing the same shirt for every game attended. But for the Orient game he wore a T-shirt – not a good idea in December – and for Northampton a blue short-sleeved cotton shirt which has seen better days and is unlikely to withstand the 40 washings it would need in the next 10 months. When I asked what was going on he said he expected Town to lose both games so "it didn't matter what shirt he wore". The anticipated result has never been part of the equation before so I suspect, like me, he doesn't quite feel the season has really started.

Fortunately, the players don't share our feelings. After last week's rather unexpected capitulation at Orient, Saturday's game felt like normal service being resumed. An 88th minute equaliser followed by a sustained spell of pressure during which, but for some very poor officiating, Town might have snatched all three points was brilliant. One of those draws that feels more like a victory.

Sitting at the back of the Pontoon I have a good view of the exit gates and, with 10 minutes to go, saw quite a few people leaving the ground. It infuriates me that some 'fans' can't be bothered to support the team for the entire game. I simply don't understand this phenomenon and have criticised it before, only to be told that people pay for their tickets and can choose to leave whenever they want. I was in the middle of a rant on the subject when Town scored the equaliser, so I had the double pleasure of the goal and the schadenfreude of imagining all those people who'd already left hearing the cheers and knowing what they'd missed. I hope beating the traffic was worth it.

Saturday's game was well publicised as a sell out for home fans and there was an enormous crowd, but there were still quite a few unoccupied seats near me in the Pontoon. I appreciate that people have last-minute changes of circumstances which prevent them from coming to a game, but I am also aware that a number of people who don't live anywhere near Blundell Park have bought season tickets. It's brilliant that they are providing financial support to the club but I'm hoping that the club will soon be able to implement a scheme whereby the seats gets used when their 'owners' can't attend. Lincoln City have been operating a season ticket buy-back scheme for sold out games for quite a while. Surely, anything the Imps can do Town can do too.

I'll leave tomorrow's diarist to preview the League Cup game – I'll just be on tenterhooks to see which shirt my other half will be wearing.

UTM