Cod Almighty | Postbag

The long shadow of George Moulson

12 August 2012

Your letters this time around provide a fair reflection of the main events surrounding the Mariners in the last month of the close season, so if you've been on holiday, here's your chance to catch up.

Send your letters to postbag@codalmighty.com.

In formation

I think you've all got it wrong on 4-3-3.

Look at the success of Swansea who play the formation. We need to give it time, but the managers have got it right on this one.

I think a large part of the problem is that the players we are able to sign are generally people who will have been brought up playing 4-4-2. It's only youngsters over the last seven years at top Premiership clubs who would have had enough exposure to the formation.

In general the benefits of 4-3-3 tend to outweigh the negatives. At the moment our midfield plays too much as a line of three - it needs to be a diamond. And the front three play stick to their roles too much. The wide men need to be confident to come inside, which I'm not sure Colbeck is, unless you play him on the left and the striker needs to be able to link with the midfield, and draw the centre-backs out of position.

from Sam Ling

Letters Ed responds: The concern expressed in various diaries has been more to do with whether 4-3-3 can work for Town in particular than in football in general. In that light, I'm not sure that the lack of familiarity with the system among the players we are likely to sign is too reassuring, to be honest, but we'll see.

Been there, got the baseball cap

As an ageing, increasingly cynical, supporter through thick and thin (and thinner) and the proud owner of one of those mickey mouse Conoco baseball caps handed to all and sundry to announce the imminent arrival of Fentydome I (!) - now I'm facing an amazing feeling of deja vu with the local allotment holders threatening a Great Coates residents-type programme of civil disobedience.

As I said, I'm getting on a bit, but didn't the club (Fenty {Topcon}) spend megabucks employing planning consultants justifying Fentydome I, looking at (and dismissing as unsuitable) all the various options available? Has this site on Peaks Parkway just magically appeared from thin air? (no). Will the club ever get its act together? (no).

Yours with increasing desperation

from Phil Shorter

A lame claim to fame

Thought you might like the reference to an old Town hero: my dad came across it in his Daily Telegraph: "The one solace in all this is that nobody escapes. If you live long enough, hip hop inevitably gives way to hip op. My 93-year -old mother in law has long since given up recounting her tale of being bought a "Gin and It" by Grimsby Town FC's goalkeeper in a hotel bar during the winter of 1939 not because she's forgotten it but because nobody else in her nursing home remembers who George Moulson is." (From Michael Simkins, 'And another thing...')

Keep up the good work, etc, etc. There are some of us still reading the articles and diaries.

from Jeremy Baily

Letters Ed responds: George Moulson played four times for Town. Let's be honest, it would have to a home full of Town obsessives still nursing a grievance over the 1939 FA Cup semi-final for that story to make much impression.

Zero tolerance

As with all of you at CA Towers, I am disgusted at the u-turn the club have made in relation to Aswadgate. However, I am not particularly surprised as, after all, we are run by a Tory. What does surprise me, though, is that the player has not made a personal statement. Surely if he requested the meeting with the accused, he would himself admit this and also confirm that he was happy to forgive and happy for the accused to remain a match-going season ticket holder. The silence is deafening.

from Ben Gresswell

Campaign for red socks

After reading the most recent Postbag, it struck me that both your campaign for red socks and indeed site colour scheme reflect nothing more than a surreptitious attempt to subtly influence the politics of Grimsby Town fans. Which indeed, given recent events, might be no bad thing.

from Dan Brown

Letters Ed responds: Subtly?

Uncomfortable and queazy

I and the man in the street could not agree more with your sentiments (See Diary, 3 August 2012) regarding the Olympics, both with the crass commercialism and at the other extreme the sheer raw joy and emotion of the athletes. It certainly makes me very slightly uncomfortable and queasy being part of football which we all know has lost touch with reality. Personally speaking, I don't think that feeling will ever return.

from Richard Jones

Who are yer?

Thank you Matt Pakes (see Diary, 10 August 2012). I thought I was rushing towards Alzheimer's, but then others are having the same problems, so phew!!!

Why can't the names be on the front as well as sides, that way 4-5 games in we'll know who's playing. In fact if they had a large balloon (helium) with their numbers, names, Twitter accounts, hairstylists and tattoo shops emblazoned, we could all share in the enjoyment of their patronage!!!

I'm glad it's starting Saturday, these three months are sooooooooooooo long.

Regards

from Janusz Przeniczny, GrimPol

Letters Ed responds: Four games is enough to be remembered 70 years later for buying a drink in a hotel bar, remember.

Thanks to everyone who has written. Send your emails to postbag@codalmighty.com to get in on the act.