Cod Almighty | Diary

It starts with a whisper

27 July 2023

Good morning, your Guest Diarist here - damp, rumpled and crumpled and his old ragbag self. Here talkin' about a revolution which, despite a very notional loss to Boston in a pre-season very friendly last night, continues apace. Most unlike that other revolution forecast by us when Newell arrived. It was wet then too, but that turned out to be the manager just being a grumpy old soak and us left with a dozen unsold T shirts.

But now the 'minutes' friendlies are over and the squad are starting to feel their legs again they must be wondering who is gonna get picked. Those claiming to be in the know say that Mr Hurst has quietly acknowledged that some regulars have reached the end of the line and that newbies, signed for real hard cash, are the step up the team needs to challenge in the top half this coming season rather than competing in the middle of Lidl. Which brings to mind something Bob Dylan sang nearly 50 years ago: "we drove that car as far as we could, abandoned it out west. Split up on a dark, sad night agreeing it was best."

That's football, you get to watch new players, grow to love them, build memories about the best things they did and then comes the dawning realisation that the guard is gonna change, that you are going to be extolling their virtues not on the pitch but as 'being good around the changing room and a figure for the young lads to look up to". Some players we have hero-worshipped, whom we have watched perform the most incredible feats in cups and matches and play-offs (play-off are not matches they are something way bigger), well they are not going to be first pick any more. Don't let this diminish them in your mind in any way gentle reader. What they did will never be forgotten, and they will still step up if called on when the new stars flag, or get knacked or lose confidence. Believe in the squad and believe in the management team. All Town aren't we?

Finally, a word of thanks to the Club suit who got in touch after I mentioned the absence of earlybird season pass options for MarinersTV fans in my diary of a couple of weeks ago. They said some nice things and made sure I didn't pay over the odds and that all subscription options for the upcoming season got released and publicised. As I write this, here in Paris, there is music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air. Town are going electric and I for one can't wait. See yer.