Cod Almighty | Diary

Never forgive, never forget

15 May 2023

Miss Guest Diary writes: Thanks to that extra bank holiday I've had a couple of weeks away from diarying, which means I've gone in one fell swoop from having three more Town games to being a week past the end of the season. Predictably, we lost to Stevenage but won both the home games which, ironically some might say, brought the tally of points earned at home to one more than those won on the road. A win-win situation for all the naysayers who can move seamlessly from complaining about Town's home performances to criticising the season overall.

The rest of us seem content with the club and the team's progress since returning to the League less than a year ago. A top half finish, an unbelievable FA Cup run, record season ticket sales, and owners and management who inspire confidence and seem genuinely to want what's best for the club and the town. I don't pretend to understand what the recently announced partnership with Twenty First Group will actually mean for us in practical terms but, having listened to the enthusiasm with which Chairman Wow describes them on both Humberside and the DN35 podcast, I'm keen to see what happens.

Talking of the last week's DN35 podcast, it's well worth a listen – Town's owners are once again forthright about their plans for the club and obviously won't be promising anything that they don't believe they will be able to deliver.

I dare say many of you, like me, have been on 'Town watch' during the Bananarama play-off games – plenty of Grimsby mentions in the preliminary rounds. Not so much in the final on Saturday, which led me to suspect that this was  deliberate – maybe the powers that be at BT Sport had realised this season's campaign could never live up to last year's so better stop reminding people about it. Then, right at the death, after Notts County had won the penalty shoot-out Adam Summerton slipped in a little reference: "It's not quite at Grimsby levels". Too right.

So now, with the exception of the yet-to-be-decided final promotion place, we know who our opponents will be next season. I have already seen people on Twitter wailing and gnashing their teeth about how hard the division is going to be next season. Maybe it will be, maybe it won't, maybe Town will be the dark horse who take the division by storm. Whatever. When I look at the list of teams, my first thought is always whether they play somewhere I am prepared to travel to. Which is why I am hoping Carlisle fill that last promotion slot – never been there, probably never will.

Overall it's looking better for those of us living north of the Watford gap. We'll be losing two southern-based teams, one in the south midlands and three in the north, to be replaced by three clubs in the north west, one in the south west and two in the midlands. Not bad overall. Though it is a pity one of those midlands clubs is the franchise which will never be named on this site and whose ground I have never and will never visit.

I did see a suggestion on Twitter last week that it was time CA let go of their 20-year old "grudge" against the franchisers. As we responded then – it's not a grudge it's a fact that a club was stolen from its fans. Something which should not have happened then and, in standing by our principles and keeping the memory of that event alive, we might help to stop ever happening again. A principle is a principle and no amount of time can change that – I haven't eaten a Kettle Chip since their owners brought in union busters back in 2007.

Now I'm just going to settle back and wait for the fixture list to come out next month. And renew my season ticket, of course.

UTM