Cod Almighty | Diary

Moments come and go but memories last forever

23 May 2023

No Town football, play-offs and top flight coming to an end soon, telly's rubbish. Players and staff are probably mostly on a well-earned break so nothing much happening there. Maybe I'm going to have to go out and do something different. I will be popping along to Trent Bridge for a bit of cricket and I have no doubt I'll enjoy it but it's not Blundell Park.

I don't really engage with tractor watch. As someone who has previously spent a large part of their life in Lincolnshire villages, I really can't raise any enthusiasm for tractors. Apologies to all you anoraks, I was very happy to get away from them. What is good to see is further investment in the pitch. Whilst the ground staff must work very hard, ongoing upgrades are always welcome.

All the reminiscing about the class of '98 has been fun. What a time for those who were watching that season. Sadly there was no Cod Almighty at the time but I couldn't help thinking "what a match report that would have been". It got me to thinking about games that are still easily brought to mind, for good or ill, many years later.

Today is the anniversary of THAT Notts County game. I still get goosebumps thinking about it, but I'll mention another game that is fixed in my mind, just because it still irritates me.

The one that often gets a mention by me is the drubbing at Lincoln in 2006. Not because it was Lincoln but because it was monumentally embarrassing when Slade kept the players on the pitch at half time. I still don't really understand what point he thought he was making; something along the lines of they didn't deserve a cup of tea. Not sure it ever occurred to him it reflected just as much on him as the players. I couldn't believe it when the club brought him back a few years later.

It was also one of my younger son's first awaydays. He couldn't see most of the game. Probably a blessing. The crowd was on the edge of boiling over, the stewarding was particularly poor. Someone opened a gate when Town fans decided to leave at half time and then it was suddenly closed, crushing some of those still inside. It was lucky there were not significant numbers of fans injured. My older son had his first mobile phone, which was very useful on the day to tell him not to join the half time exodus when I saw him heading that way. Weird the things you remember. Only eight years after the boys of '98. How far we had slipped but we were still there urging the lads on.

Anyway, if you fancy reminding yourself of the pain, here’s Tony's match report and the diary from the following Monday. UTM!