Cod Almighty | Diary

I'm seething John

17 April 2023

Miss Guest Diary writes: I think it would be true to say that as people get older they tend to spend a larger proportion of their time reminiscing. I know that I certainly do, which accounts for part of Saturday evening being spent doing just that with my brother. You could see the eyes of my other half and of my sister-in-law glaze over as we began to talk about the people who lived in our street when we were kids. Dragging out of the ether names and facts long forgotten, including the name of next door's dog – Janey – an old-English sheep dog of whom I was terrified.

The accuracy of some of our reminiscences and stories is debatable, which is why Town fans are so fortunate to have an archivist like @OnthisGTFCday collecting contemporary audio and video clips, photos and news reports about Town and sharing them with us on Twitter. Sometimes it would be more fun to believe the distorted memory, the myth but, in an era which has created the phenomenon of 'fake news', having the facts – with evidence to back them up – feels important.

Yesterday we were reminded of Russell Slade's meltdown 18 years ago when Town let a two-goal lead slip at Notts County. So shocking was the outburst – Slade blaming "the Frenchman" and claiming that he could get "any female off the street" to defend better – that without the actual proof, it might not be believed by younger fans. Indeed, so shocking was it that our original diarist was minded to return to CA Towers to pen a Saturday-night diary. I'm really not sure what it would take these days to inspire such diligence in one of our diarists.

As someone who also follows cricket, this time of year can result in a bit of sports overload, though the football always takes precedence. A bonus for the cricket lover since the pandemic summer when we couldn't attend any games is that all county cricket is now streamed for free on YouTube, so I was able to watch Nottinghamshire beating Somerset yesterday. It is usual in the early part of the season for counties to have their England players back for a few games which, in the case of Notts, means Stuart Broad. Watching this star of England cricket take only a couple of wickets and score a mere seven runs in the match put me in mind of Town's current 'star' player, John McAtee.

After last season's heroics, most Town fans were expecting great things of McAtee – he was going to propel us towards the play-offs, if not actually secure another promotion for us. It was hugely disappointing when he could not play for several months while his shoulder was repaired. Hope was revived after his quality was endorsed by a second tier club buying him and then him scoring on his return for Town in November. Alas our talisman has failed to make much of an impact since then and, I venture to say, detracts more than he adds to the team. Yes, he is very skilful, and yes he busts a gut for the team, but that latter trait is really the problem. He seemingly wants to kick every ball and score every goal, which can make him selfish in front of goal and can unbalance the play.

It's a pity the fairy tale didn't materialise, but at least we will be able to revel in seeing some of his spectacular goals on their anniversaries in years to come.

UTM