Cod Almighty | Diary

Good employers and a good stand by the Mariners Trust - now we just need to get the football right

28 September 2022

It's all good in the world of Grimsby Town.

A BBC investigation suggests that Town are one of only two clubs in the Football League which is committed to paying its staff the real living wage. That means a lot. We can be sure no one is being exploited on our behalf. The eight Premier League clubs who can't make the same promise deserve nothing but contempt.

The Mariners Trust has taken a stand on the Football League forcing us to rearrange our already rearranged fixture against Crewe, to suit the convenience of Manchester City's waifs and strays. They show how the League has broken its own rules. The usual playbook of the powerful in these situations is to ignore the complaints, knowing they can show disrespect to the likes of Grimsby without causing a media storm, so Middle-Aged Diary will be surprised if we get a response from the League, still less a satisfactory one. That does not mean a stand should not be taken.

We'll return to the theme nearer the time no doubt, but anyone who is thinking of attending that particular leg of the pizza pie should really ask what they are supporting, and what they are conniving at. The week of 8 November ought to be a bumper week for donations to the Disabled Supporters Club or local food banks, instead of wasting money on a non-event. In the meantime, at least the trust is showing whose side they are on. So all is good with Grimsby Town Football Club.

You think we ought to talk about football? Sure. Grimsby Town Women beat Grimsby Borough 5-1 at the weekend. Ollie Battersby is off to get some game time at Ilkeston, but we've got Jamie Pardington to cover for Max Crocombe until he comes back. Pardington it seems is six feet five inches tall. If nothing else he'll be handy if Paul Hurst needs something from the top of a cupboard.

OK, yes, strictly speaking a football club has to be judged by what its first team does, and last night they lost again, at home again, by two goals to one again. It happens.

It must have been about this time last year someone on social media had the gall and ignorance to tell Cod Almighty that not calling for Hurst's head was "not a good look", as though our criticism of John Fenty's stewardship had been that he wasn't trigger happy enough. Like last season, we aren't as good a team, yet, as the record of one defeat in eight games before Saturday suggested. It's not to say we won't be. The ways we are improving off the pitch make it more likely that we will be.

Keep going.