Cod Almighty | Diary
Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobaccky and the women wicky-wacky-woo!
20 May 2024
How are you enjoying yourself now the days of hanging on in sometimes loud desperation are over? This is my 57th closed season since I was first taken to Blundell Park, and I'm probably due a long service medal from the Chairman, writes your Peripatetic Diary. I've stood or sat through eight promotions, eight relegations, one successful application for re-election, and heaven knows how many near misses at both ends of the table. Last season's shit show has left me uncomfortably numb and more emotionally drained than any season Fenty ever brought about, and I just don't want to talk about how it nearly broke my heart.
It's not the ideal way to make your debut as an occasional diarist so, with your permission, I'm going to write about something other than how long the current manager will last, who's been kept or let go, and what a mistake it was to part company with Danilo Orsi. There are plenty of eye-swivelling loons on what I'm going to continue to call Twitter who are doing that every minute of the day.
Instead, I'd like to take this opportunity to say something about a few Town fans who continue to give me faith that our club isn't going to die on its arse any time soon. First up, I doff my cap to Bruce Fenwick who runs the @onthisgtfcday account on Twitter. I think it's a well-known account and if you're interested in any aspect of the club's history it's an absolute must. I've only met Bruce once, at the 71-72/79-80 celebration evening a few years ago. We were both hogwhimperingly drunk so I have no idea what our conversation was about, but he came across as a bloke with a genuine love for the club and its history.
He invariably gets a response to his posts from Mariners old and young. I'm a fan of the whole thing, but I particularly enjoy the 70s stuff because that was my adolescent and early adulthood, as well as being the last time we won two of our six championships. I love the memories that get rekindled in people I suppose are around my age. It's great fun to read about things like the origin of the 'Sing when we're fishing' chant. I remember it as being started by Liverpool fans at Anfield in a 1980 FA Cup tie. Others recall Town fans first singing it a month earlier in a game at Chesterfield. I'd like to say it's not important, but if it's better to take the piss out of yourself before others take it out of you, then it really is.
I chuckle when readers, and it's typically the same ones, reply with words along the lines of 'that was a bit of a tasty day' as it mostly was in the late 70s and early 80s; not that I'd know, being a complete wimp. I do remember at that Liverpool game walking towards the ground with a bunch of Town fans who started singing 'We are the boys in black and white. We love to sing and we love to fight' when some Liverpool-supporting Neanderthals came round the corner causing the next line of the song to become 'So let's sing'.
If that little story brought a smile to your face, then Bruce's account is just what you need, especially after the season I'm not going to write about. The wonderful thing, of course, is that it's not just the Ancient Mariners like me who have something to say. You can tell climate change is real by the increase in "that's the hottest I've ever been at a football match" as the season Bruce chooses becomes more recent.
I'd also like to doff my cap to the fans involved in the National Lottery-funded GTFC heritage project. After a long period of apparent inactivity, the project is finally beginning to bear fruit. Its Twitter account is @gtfcheritage and its website is gtfcheritage.co.uk. The project is overseen by Kristine Green, a name well-known among Town fans. She's probably the most efficient person I've ever come across, and if she says something will get done it gets done, and invariably in double-quick time.
One of the things the project is trying to do is present those who've played for the club or, in the case of those no longer with us, a relative, with a certificate which gives a player a unique number based on when he made his debut. Tracking down relatives of a player from years ago isn't an easy job, and to that end there is a team of volunteer detectives doing whatever it is people do to find such things out. I have this image of Kristine marching her unpaid staff into a small room at Blundell Park and then chaining them to a desk until they've tracked down a relative and had a reply from them. I doubt that's what happens, but this is Grimsby Town where the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, so who knows?
The principal detectives are Dave Wherry and Tim Bell, both of whom have Twitter accounts (@MarinerMen and @MarinersArchive respectively). Tim has a website as well (marinersarchive.com), an Aladdin's cave of Town memorabilia. They've forgotten more than most of us know about the Mariners. I've sought their help many times, and though I've never met either of them the help they've given me has been incredible.
Dave and Tim are the reason why we're seeing so many pictures on Twitter showing players (or their relatives) holding certificates with their unique player numbers. As the detectives' hard work begins to bring its rewards, I've seen relative of players from my childhood (such as Jack Lewis), and even the players themselves from that period (Owen Simpson), proudly display the club's recognition of their contribution to its history. I thought Chris Hargeaves and Rob Eagle wrote some touching words to show that the affection between the club and players is a reciprocal one.
I was also astonished to see the picture of John Wright, grandson of Jimmy Wright, who was Frank Womack's first signing in 1932. A member of the squad that won the Second Division championship in 1933-34, Jimmy played in five First Division games when Town finished 5th, their highest ever position in the Football League.
I saw someone on Twitter suggest that the current players could have their unique identifying number embroidered on their shirts for next season as happens with England cricketers. I could be wrong, but I don't think any other club has done this, has it? Another first for the Mariners, perhaps? And when the Heritage project has run its course I really hope that the powers that be recognise all the work that's been done in a mostly voluntary capacity by some of the fans. Give them and the rest of us promotion next year, and if you can't manage that at least give the Heritage folk a celebratory (and free) night in McMenemy's. And when Tony Ford comes to Blundell Park to pick up his certificate, how about giving him his long overdue testimonial?
Apologies if you came here looking for news about our football club. It looks to me like the club haven't got anything new to say, and if they don't I certainly won't. I can make something up if you like, but the Fishy has beaten me to it by claiming a correlation coefficient of +0.91 between the average number of daylight hours per month and the average number of points obtained by Town per month. Build the new stadium in Rjukan and watch the Mariners conquer world football!