Cod Almighty | Diary

Whoever is leaving wish them well, but not against Town

30 April 2024

Well we did it! Not promotion, not a cup run, not a season to celebrate but at least we will be starting the next one in the football league and that's worth a moment's pause.

We're left with relief rather than anything to applaud which is far from where we hoped to be at the start of the season. Now we're into what is probably my least favourite time of year. Who will be on their way, their time as a Mariner at an end? Doesn't matter who it is, it's always a strange time. People we had high hopes for leaving us either because they didn't succeed or "we've moved on from there and now need someone else". It never gets any easier. The amount of speculation far outweighs the actual news and the era of social media escalates that far beyond just mates' speculation.

By the time this is published the retained list will probably be out but at the time of writing it appears that Gavan Holohan is on his way based on a post by his partner. If this is true that would be a real shame. He's done a proper job for us, he wears his heart on his sleeve and his passion for the club would connect any new players who weren't there to our most recent successes. I'll be very sad to see him go if it is true.

Aaron Braithwaite tweeted his farewell yesterday and Jamie Bramwell thanked everyone at the club for the last four years. That's just the ones I've seen.

I'll be trying to ignore other rumours until there's confirmation. We do get over enthusiastic in our speculation at times but only because we care. The increase in season ticket prices is somewhat more nuanced than the assumptions in the lower bar before the game last week. If you can afford to renew before the end of May there is no increase. That’s more reasonable than expected.

Then we're on to who we're signing. Then just maybe some proper time off for everyone at the club including the fans would be good. UTM!