Cod Almighty | Diary

Countdown to ecstacy

26 June 2023

Miss Guest Diary writes: Having counted down the days to the release of the fixtures last Thursday, I confess to feeling somewhat underwhelmed. It's a feeling I remember well from the days when I used to go on proper holidays to Greek islands. I'd spend weeks thinking about what I was going to take, buying new things, decanting toiletries into mini containers, starting my packing well in advance. Then I'd arrive at the resort and remember that I burn really easily and suffer from prickly heat, condemning me to two weeks in long sleeves under an umbrella while everyone else was cavorting in the sunshine.

The fixture-list comedown wasn't quite that stark, but you get the drift. Once I'd checked out the first, last and Boxing Day fixtures and seen how many away games I might have to miss because they fall on a Tuesday night, I was pretty much done. Of course others found much more to mull over, several Tweeters suggesting that Town have a very difficult start, with one pessimist saying Town might not get even a point from their first eight games. Wow. There's glass-half-empty and then there's "I see no glass at all", which I recall Mr Butcher once saying during an interview on Radio Humberside.

People love to second guess the universe, don't they. No-one knows how the season will go and the factors influencing the outcome of a football match are many and varied. Our team, the opposition team, the tactics employed, the quality of the referee, the playing conditions, even the mood of the crowd will all have a bearing. That last thing might be the most important; if Town fans go into the season with the mindset that Town will struggle to compete then giving the team a lift when they need it won't happen.

I'm now going to do what TV pundits like to do (and what I have criticised them for doing) and suggest that the outcome of future games can be predicted from past games. So, looking at Town's first eight games and how we performed in the last encounter with those teams, it shows the following: AFC Wimbledon (H) – win; Notts County (A) – win; Salford City (H) – loss; Mansfield Town (H) – draw; Walsall (A) – win; Gillingham (H) – draw; Bradford City (A) – loss; Wrexham (A) – win.

There we are: 14 points from the first eight games. That's a guaranteed place in the play-offs, obvs.

Paul Hurst continues to strengthen his squad, with defender Harvey Rodgers coming to us from Accrington Stanley on a three-year deal. He has played virtually all of his football in the third division, so the fact that he has signed for a fourth division club rather than looking to stay at that level feels like a significant endorsement of Town's prospects. Now we just need that other rumoured Harvey – the goalkeeping one from Hull whose surname escapes me. Smith? Keitel? Wallbanger?

It's time to start the countdown to the season opener at Blundell Park – just under six weeks to go!

UTM!