Cod Almighty | Diary

So proud to be GTFC

20 March 2023

Miss Guest Diary writes: If Southampton was all about the result, then yesterday's game at Brighton was all about the experience. And what an experience! I bet in years to come there will be way more than the actual 4,621 attendees claiming "I was there". And why not? Who wouldn't want to have been part of it?

A day that was about so much more than the 90 minutes on the pitch. The meetings with friends; the frantic shouting and waving to other friends spotted in the distance; putting faces to names familiar from social media; and the conversations with strangers from both sides on trains, at the station, in the street. A coming together of clubs at either ends of the football pyramid whose fans know hardship and what it means to stick with your team.

At times the football match itself seemed almost irrelevant, this was a day simply to celebrate being supporters of our club. I know some of the more optimistic among us were constructing scenarios involving fluky own goals and dodgy penalties which might see a Town victory. The more pragmatic accepted the reality of the gulf in skills and ability between the premiership and the fourth division and just hoped that Town could keep the goals-against column respectable.

In the end 5-0 felt a little harsh for Town – the late goal from the wobble by Waterfall was a bit annoying. It would have been wonderful if one of McAtee's efforts could have found its way into the net, but at least both were on target. I can see why a member of the CA team who didn't make the trip felt the need to criticise the players and was angry about the result – it must be galling to watch your team lose 5-0 on national TV. Being there and experiencing everything else going on softened the scoreline immeasurably.

My biggest fear going into the game was that the crowd would flag. I have an abiding memory of a fifth round FA Cup game against Ipswich back in the 90s. The atmosphere before kick-off was bouncing but as soon as it became apparent Town had a fight on their hands it wilted, crumbling completely when Ipswich scored after about half an hour. Yesterday couldn't have been more different. Apart from a small hiatus after Brighton's second goal, the support was non-stop, and the 10 minutes of singing and inflatable waving after the final whistle was simply magical.

In the 30-odd years I have supported Town there have been promotions and other cup runs which have attracted attention, but nothing like the stir created by being FA Cup quarter-finalists. In the last few days you couldn't turn on the TV or radio or pick up a newspaper without seeing someone waving a plastic fish, or being interviewed about the Mariners or writing about the progress being made both at Town and in the town. We've had a small taste of what it's like to be a 'big' club in the modern world. There'll be a bit more of that today, reports of the game in the national newspapers, a short feature on Look North and Calendar, then it will be back to earth with a bump.

I had thought that, once the cup run ended and we were safe from relegation, it would be time to relax and build for next season. But I wouldn't put it past this set of players to go on a winning run towards the play-offs, starting at Mansfield on Wednesday. Let's hope so.

UTM