Cod Almighty | Diary

Maximum joy

9 February 2023

Your Guest Diary, just in from the cold digging leeks. The new name in leeks is porbella which sounded to me like a sexy Italian midfielder so I went for it. With leeks the torture never stops, next seasons crop has just germinated and todays leek and potato soup is bubbling hot. And the leek bug is waiting in the wings to strike. Gardening gives me a rest from constantly replaying the sounds of Tuesday night in my head. In nearly sixty years of following Town there are maybe a dozen matches that live on forever and this last twelve months appears to have given me nearly half of them. This Grimsby Town with Paul Hurst at the helm has become remarkably good at knock out football. Remarkably good. Maximum effort, maximum team play, maximum joy.

Yes, 2023 Town are smooth operators alright. No-one least of all Mr Hurst really likes a back three, but the back three works. It is remarkable how few saves Crocombe has had to make lately (but when called upon he is in terrific form). Waterfall is fast becoming an epic Town centre half. And we have a few to measure him by. The midfield, whoever is playing, grafts. And Harry Clifton runs. He chases back and digs out the edge of his own box, he gets forward with 60 yard lung busting runs to add numbers to attack. And when he gets chances he takes them. Don't leave us Harry, you are one of us and you will never be as happy as you are this week. We are your agent and we say stay put.

By the way I came across a new Town fan last Saturday. Amongst the #gtfc twitter excitement I noticed someone posting in Japanese. Translating their tweets revealed a fan excited about the debutants and a big fan of Harry Clifton. How come? I asked. It turns out he liked Grimsby's strip on FIFA and then fell in love with the club so is a Mariners TV subscriber whose dream it is to visit Blundell Park. You gotta love the internet don't you?

So we took a couple of ambitious young forwards who hadn't torn any trees up elsewhere on loan. And they both had fabulous debuts. And Orsi proved the first Luton game was no flash in the pan by playing equally well in the replay. Suddenly we have choices. Young loanees are sometimes a lottery - Pepple grafted but did not click. This time our numbers seem to have come up and the owners, recruitment team and us fans all deserved that luck. They say the harder you work the luckier you get so this last window proved to me that real graft is going on behind the scenes. Going in to this intensive slog of a run of matches our squad looks big enough to have a real go at it. You know when the squad is strong when you struggle to name the best starting eleven. And today, after a comprehensive away league win and a belter of a cup win I can't say for certain what is our best team. And I don't think you can be certain either gentle reader.

I will be honest with you, I have never really been a fan of the Fans Forum idea. Especially when the owners really are doing their absolute best for the club. I would prefer a proper update from the owners first. How much money is the club losing every week this season? What news of the training ground upgrades? Is anyone else showing interest in investment in the club? Which young players are you tying down with improved contracts? What steps are being taken to ensure online ticket purchase is not an all-day job? Give us that information first and then see if any valid questions arise.

But I know some fans like to eyeball the board and make their points saying however much money is poured in it is not enough. But this week the club proved to the fans it knows what it is doing so those banging on about lack of ambition should surely be in a tiny minority. Everyone else is on cloud nine excitedly awaiting the next instalment, starting with the team sheet on Saturday. Can't wait. See yer.