Cod Almighty | Diary
Nici, Sunak and Boris all up for fan of the year - vote now!
9 March 2023
When there are a lot more season ticket holders than cup tickets allocated there will always be tears whichever mechanism is chosen to sell them. Your Guest Diarist sympathises with those die-hard fans who are ticketless for the FA Cup quarter final tie that Tory MP Lia Nici called, erm, "the next stage" in Parliament yesterday. I was unfortunate to catch the toe curling exchange between the local MP and her sycophantic Prime Minister live. Forced jollity has never been my thing and there was a predictable backlash from others for several deep-seated reasons. Nici, who voted to remain in the EU but then realised she would be much more electable as a Brexiteer, relishes a photo opportunity. Remember her giving Boris a Town bobble hat? And she made herself prominent at the playoff final - thanks to top hospitality tickets given to her by the club as her register of interests revealed. Lia, you are no Anthony Crosland, and by and large football and politics are never a successful mix. Good luck at the next election, you are really gonna need it. This Town knows.
As Ms Nici rose to speak my eye was caught by Martin Vickers (an actual Town fan) sitting just behind her who appeared to be gently squirming. Sure, any mention of Grimsby in parliament is important (however patronising) just to remind the Westminster bubble that outlying deprived coastal towns are still clinging on. But two politicians stumbling through a desperate exchange of footy banter about teams to which they have only the faintest of allegiance is not levelling up in any shape or form. And, in my opinion, the Town Chairman made a mistake in publicly thanking Lia Nici for an act that was far more about her own profile than it was ever about our football club. But I suppose that he had his reasons.
Having sympathised with those not going I would say to those with tickets that you must remember that you are representing the whole fanbase. And you have a duty to keep singing loud even if we get thumped, as we very possibly will. These players, under this management team, deserve it. Some of the home games have been a bit turgid for reasons which are actually quite hard to fathom. But against the better teams in our league, the third division, the Championship and the top division they have really performed. An epic thunderous fish waving show of support from the fans right past the final whistle will do more good for Grimsby in the national spotlight than any footnote in Hansard. Real people showing real emotions. I know you will people.
For me, at home shouting at the telly as always, I just hope we score. Looking back on great cup games in my lifetime starting with West Ham in '65, that feeling when you score against teams you have no right to is the best feeling ever. Even when Chelsea stuffed us 7-1 you can look back and remember that Town actually scored the best goal of the game. Away at Chelsea another time when we scored to make it 2-1 the feeling was incredible even though we were never really in it. To prove my point that night at Highbury when Arsenal literally strolled to the most routine win against us without one memorable Town moment is one of my worst memories at a football match. So for me going down 6-1 would be way better than losing say 3-0. But you never know, it might be written in the stars for Town - freakier things have happened so let's all keep the faith eh?. See yer.