Cod Almighty | Postbag
Angst
26 August 2011
There may have been a groundswell of pre-season optimism in some quarters, but it seems to have passed our correspondents by. What we have in the latest letters page is an exploration of the Mariners psyche: the sense of being cursed, a groping after the consolations of philosophy and theology, the politics of anger and, finally, the scene in a cold community centre as one after another of us takes our turn to stand and say "My name is Joe. I am a Marinaholic."
Make your confessions to the Cod Almighty Postbag.
Betting against your dreams
I really sympathise with Richard Lord's plight. I know the feeling he is describing.
Towards the end of last season I was getting a bit fed up of seeing Arsenal lose, Man U win (on TV!) and seeing Town draw their way into mid-table obscurity. So, 23rd April, I picked the Arsenal - Man U game to put 20 quid on Man United. Sure enough Arsenal halt their season slide to play well and win. Another example would be Brazil in the Copa America recently. This happens often to me and as happy as I am to see it, it doesn't pay the bills! So my advice to Richard would be to find some decent odds and bet as heavily against Town as he can afford to next time he goes - that should do the trick!
from Jim Mottershead
Remember him?
Dear Codalmighty,
I would like to ask your opinion on the recent Connell sell off. I heard he went to Swindon for "an undisclosed six figure sum". Is this Fenty speak for £1246.50 or do you feel it was shrewd business from Town due to him wanting to leave anyway and perhaps could finance the next campaign?
Your thoughts would be appreciated!
from Jim Motershead
Letters Ed responds: First of all, Jim, apologies for the delay in publishing your letters. However, four games in, I think we can take this as proof that if you leave a letter unanswered long enough, it answers itself.
Grimsby Town, actually (no longer) existing socialism and Roman Catholic th
I've always wondered where the red bit came from on the GTFC kit. The colours went through blue hoops, blue/brown halves / quarters, until the black and white stripes were settled on, but where did the red bit come from?
Now I know; its for the Trotsky element which seems to occupy CA Towers. Whilst most of the world seems to have given up on these bankrupt left wing views,CA Towers seems to still be pumping out propaganda. You know the sort, "Tractor production up 150%", "Bread production up 200%", and those standing in a queue for days so they can get a loaf of bread are Fascist Revisionists who are only trying to embarrass the Party by fainting from so called malnutrition. I'm surprised that the propaganda doesn't cover "Goals up by 150%", "Points up by 200%", and those who control the scoreboard are only doing it to embarrass the board, but then you would accuse me of talking crap!!
But this Friday it would seem a memo from the Vatican has prompted CA Towers to start discussing Biblical issues- purgatory no less. You see purgatory is a place from where you go to heaven only or stay; you do not drop into hell (All queries to the Vatican please). I thought that the 4th Division ( I haven't gone decimal yet) was that place, purgatory. Grimsby Town would not go down. John Fenty, our managers (numerous), players, the Pontoon End, other teams' insolvency accountants just would not let it happen. But we broke the dogma and slipped/fell/tumbled into Hades.
And it is dire. I'm still not sure where these teams are based. I just don't want to fix them in my memory because next year we will surely be in the proper league? But then you read the teams again and see that more than half have been in the "proper" League before. It makes you want to move to North Korea.
Regards
from Jan Przeniczny
Letters Ed responds: Jan is picking up on the Diary's comments on the English riots, and the Diary of 12 August. Now there are not many things your letters editor claims to speak on with any authority (Grimsby Town 1976 - 2001, after which it all goes into a bad haze, is about it) but one of them is the difference between Stalinism and Trotskyism. The Trotskyists are not the ones rigging the scoreboard, but the ones predicting impending crisis, even as the scoreboard flickers up the score "Grimsby Town 7,
Other philosophers have only interpreted the World. The point however is to
Reading Cod Almighty this morning and it is quite "doom and gloom". One match in and the season is over. So it's a good thing we have French philosophers to help us in our hour of need (and not just Voltaire). It seems Blaise Pascal would have supported Grimsby Town given half a chance.
Any chance you could write the most depressing news in seductive classical French?
See you at Braintree.
from Richard Bull
Letters Ed responds: No chance at all. In fact, what we saw and heard at Braintree rendered us incapable of rendering the news in even earthy, Anglo-Saxon English. Once we resumed normal service, we invited your reactions to our two-day shut-down...
Cod Almighty shut-down 1
Think you did the right thing. Tuesday was as bad as it's possible to get for Town, though I've said that a few times over the years.
I'm a Hull City fan and spent Tuesday night watching us get thumped at Elland Road, getting back to the car and listening to Humberside put our defeat into perspective.
My dad's been a Town fan all his life and I love the club too, it pains me to see the club in its current position. Please keep the site going because I love it!
All the best,
from David Goodman
Letters Ed responds: So many snarky responses have crossed my mind since reading the awful first five words of the second paragraph of this letter (Nearly headlined "Sympathy from the Devil", for example) but frankly, the tone of sincere concern defies cynicism. Thank you David.
Cod Almighty shut-down 2:replying to a Dear John (topCon) letter
Thank goodness you're back.
We need you as our support Support Group - it has been hell without you! I for one felt as any rejected lover does who has been dumped with just a laconic message. I realise it not you or me who is to blame for the break up...
There will I fear be worse to come as Captains Shorty and Shouty and their bunch of inadequates lead us into the Valley of The Shadow of Death but it is belief in our cause that must give us strength - WE ARE GRIMSBY!
(I have assumed CA is a Topcon free zone so I will make no mention of the real culprit of our pain).
from Rod Edge
Letters Ed responds: You can still find a statement of our reasons for shutting Cod Almighty down last week on our entry page. If Rod sounds like a man who knows he needs help, regard the next as a message from someone further along the twelve steps to recovery ...
"You can enjoy 1650 on a Saturday in so many ways that don't invo
Dear Cod Almighty Thanks for the email and the invitation to get involved. I hope everyone at CA Towers is well.
I'm very sad to have to write this but I can't, in all conscience, write anything more for CA because my interest in Town has hit an all time low and I just don't care about them anymore. Last season, for the first time in 35 years I didn't go to a single Town game and there were long periods where I didn't know who they were playing and what their results were..
I am sickened at the management of the club in terms of it's blatant disregard for supporters, it's breathtakingly appalling PR, the fact that Fenty runs it like his own Rotten Borough and the ever changing collection of players who don't give a shit about the club or the town, their performance or results. I have consciously chosen to walk away from the love of my life because I can see that 'she' holds me in contempt and I don't want to be made miserable by the relationship being utterly one sided. I have surprised myself by discovering that you can enjoy 1650 on a Saturday afternoon in so many ways that don't involve waiting for that fucking ticker to either inject a shard of hope or a blanket of despair into your life. For me, it's far too long since the shard of hope has been there.
I have really enjoyed being part of CA (however far distant) but I can't do it anymore because I don't have the passion for the subject that I once had. I wish you the very best of luck for the future and I hope that one day I can send you an email about the shard of hope becoming a ray of light. But I doubt I'll have to. Long live Cod Almighty.
from Mark Wilson
Letters Ed responds: Mark was responding to an attempt to round up volunteers to write the 2011 Rough Guide series but agreed we should publish his reply. Thank you Mark, and thanks to all our letter writers.
Write to the CA letters page here.