Cod Almighty | Diary

I wanna tell you a story

6 February 2023

Miss Guest Diary writes: It seems that Mr Meek's prayers for divine intervention in the transfer window were answered after all and, despite the scepticism from some fans as to the worth of Town's deadline day signings, it appears that Paul Hurst might actually know what he is doing. All three played an important part in securing the 3-0 victory at Crewe on Saturday, with goals from George Lloyd and Tom Dickson-Peters and an impressive performance from Joshua Emmanuel.

It was Town's first victory at Gresty Road since 1990, also ending a run of six straight defeats which started in August 2000. I wasn't there to witness the triumph, having decided on my last visit – the 5-0 defeat in 2017, where we conceded four goals in the first half hour – that I'd had enough of Crewe and if I never went there again it would be too soon. There was a little twinge of regret at missing the win, but I have a feeling there'll be plenty more to come this season.

Maybe even starting with the game against Luton tomorrow. If the Luton players are as complacent as the fans – who have already been complaining about the kick-off time of the game at Southampton, or the media who are pitching it as Nathan Jones against his old team – then Town might just pull off a cup upset.

It's a pity none of the new arrivals can play. Even if not cup-tied, they aren't eligible because they have been signed since the original game last month. Nor, of course, can the revitalised McAtee. But with the signing of new players comes increased competition for places in the starting line-up, so I would expect every squad member to be busting a gut to feature in Hurst's starting eleven from here on in.

I've had to content myself with watching the highlights of the game at Crewe – at least 10 times – and marvelling at how dominant Town looked. So different from the last league game I saw, at Swindon. It was also great to see the ITV football's Twitter account posting a clip of McAtee's goal as a teaser for their highlights show. Not so sure about the commentator's dodgy pronunciation of our Max's name, though – Cru-com-bee, anyone?

In case you missed it on Friday, Town have signed another player on a short-term contract till the end of the season. Owen Gallacher, a 23-year old who spent time as a youth player at Newcastle and Nottingham Forest and has since made a few appearances for Burton Albion, Crawley and Gateshead. He is a left-back who, according to Hurst, can also play at wing-back and left-wing, so will be cover for Danny Amos. Selfishly, I hope he won't be needed as I have taken a shine to Danny, who has real potential to be a Town-player, as opposed to simply playing for Town.

I enjoy sharing my memories and experiences of supporting Town in these diaries. If you have a Town story you'd like to share, the club are inviting fans to contribute to the RememberWhenGTFC project which has been funded by the National Lottery and will culminate in an exhibition of memories and memorabilia. Get writing!

Someone who isn't shy of writing about his experiences of football in general and Town in particular is Chairman Wow. He has another piece in today's Guardian – this time about football regulation, and relegation and promotion between the League and non-League. I have to confess that supporting a club whose co-owner regularly writes for what I consider to be Britain's premier newspaper is something of which I am very proud.

UTM