Cod Almighty | Diary

It's in our blood, it's in our DNA

19 September 2023

The upside of being the regular Tuesday diarist is that I don't have to reflect on Saturday's game unless I want to. Wrexham away: we’re past it and I'm not sorry. It was never going to live up to our previous visit. Respect to the more than a thousand who made the trip. I'll leave it to those who have the stamina to debate, and debate, and debate our performance and Hurst and the team's relative strengths or weaknesses. Onwards!

Something that I wondered about is whether we are just too nice? Don't get me wrong, I hate teams who constantly badger the officials, flounce about and toss their hair at every perceived incident. What I do notice is that we rarely appeal for anything, even in the penalty area. There are occasions when there's been a possible foul in the area and the Town player gets up and jogs off. Mr Trentside always works on the assumption that the player can't have thought it was a foul, I lean more towards it being the sporting culture of our team and players to believe that if it's a penalty it will be given. Personally I'd like to see a bit more questioning, just to push the officials to consider it.

I'm enjoying the photos from Town's history. Eleven seasons in the top flight still within living memory. Now there's a long-term aspiration. For the 150th anniversary we definitely need the thin hoops or blue and brown quarters for our away or third kit. My grandad played occasionally as an amateur for Town at that time and on into the Shankly era. He wouldn't sign as he had a family to support and he earned more as a welder on Humber Graving Dock. Other clubs such as Everton tried to nab him but, again, he wasn't tempted. He wasn't a fan of the owners and board at the time with the view that they weren't good to the players. How often do we still hear that in football?

Sadly, he and others were recorded by their status, not name, and there are probably a few families around who have tales and fading photos but no hard information. In the modern world, it would probably never have happened. Anyway, Tommy Hattersley and all the others, I salute the part you played in our history. Little did you expect that this one branch of grandchildren, great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren would still be making that pilgrimage to Blundell Park. I'm very proud that we do and the direction our club is heading in.

UTM!