Cod Almighty | Diary

It was a weekend of two halves, or nineteen twentieths more accurately.

11 April 2023

Well that was one hundred and seventy minutes of frustration wasn't it? I feel I should take some responsibility because I mentioned last week how I would quite like Hartlepool to stay up, but also that I didn't want Town to lose. What I didn't expect was total and utter capitulation. At least a lot of the traffic had cleared by the time we got back to our car.

On to Monday and against a not very good Doncaster side it looked like there could more frustration on the way. It's not that long ago, in my head they were a team to be feared or where at least we would be very lucky to get anything out of the game. Not that team anymore.

To be fair their twelfth man did his best to keep them in it. For a bar that's set extremely low, he managed to limbo through with ease and after a night's sleep and time to process, he was probably the worst ref I have seen in a long time, and we see a few. I'm not sure he was watching the same game as me but five bookings for Town players doesn't reflect the way the game was played. During one period he seemed to have completely lost the game and there were many times he was completely behind the play, or in the way if he did catch up.

Where do they get them from? I realise being a ref would not appeal to many people but surely they can do better than this. It's not badly paid either. I'm surprised more former players don't go that route, at least they would understand the game. Perhaps they are honest enough with themselves that they might carry too many inbuilt biases and too much history. Who knows?

I'm sure you are like me and obsessing over who we might retain, before I even think about who we bring in. Clifton has a year on his contract but he's had enough exposure to think teams in higher leagues will be sniffing around. Same with Gav Holohan. I'm hoping they stay, not least because they give us more as they both have talent to add to their never-give-up attitudes. There are others I want to keep but it can't be too long before we start getting a few announcements. Maybe they will wait until the season is finished so as not to distract.

One of the reasons I am less than enthusiastic about Wrexham coming up is they will skew the money in the league as they have in non-league. I don't hate them; like us and others they have spent too long in non-league. We were talking to a few of their fans before the home game last season and they summed it up as they were "along for the ride". We know they have very decent fans. I have nothing against their owners, I'm sure they are okay blokes although this can only be a bit of a project for them. Theirs is a multi-million pound fairy-tale, Disney style and the fawning from the media is icky but not their fault. But I can't help but think if they come up, we will never win if they are interested in the same players as us. They have shown that they will splash ridiculous amounts of cash. I know Financial Fair Play is meant to even this out but in reality it doesn't appear to have much impact.

I hope Hursty gets a few of the people he would like. Our cup run might intrigue a few and persuade them that we are a club that's going places. We certainly are.

UTM!