Cod Almighty | Diary

Why multi-culturalism is a good thing, part 87

31 May 2024

The silence goes on. If you have come here to be reminded that today is your last chance to buy a season ticket at last season's prices, get in touch. With that level of absent-mindedness and disorganisation, you could be just the person we need to fill a slot in our diary roster.

The peace gives us time to pay belated tribute to Gavan Holohan, who will soon be a free agent. Some time ago Newbegin Diary came upon some back-handed praise of Joe Cooper, a deep-lying inside forward from the 1930s. It came from a director, in the days when they still insisted on a very direct say in team selection. "You can't leave Cooper out of the side, for no matter how badly he plays, Town always win". The reporter who quoted him remarked that it was a wrong-headed way of saying a very true thing.

Coaches, performance analysts and one of two posters on the Fishy could no doubt pinpoint the exact reasons and produce a telling bit of data to support their argument, but for most of us, Holohan, like Craig Disley before him, is one of those players who is just ineffably present and effective, no matter how little you notice him in the course of 90 minutes.

In 2022-23, after some penalty embarrassments, he was a very reassuring sight at the start of a run-up, but beyond that, he had a knack for being in the right place at the right time, usually unobtrusively but occasionally with spectacular results. We no longer have Holohan, but we'll always have an injury-time equaliser at Notts County.

He was also in the right place at the right time at Morecambe last season, and if it is not a true reflection of the player it is a measure of the man that he remembered vividly the moment that the ball slewed off his sliding foot, denying us a last-minute win. It is a quality of heartfelt professionalism which he shares with many of our Irish imports: Paul Agnew perhaps and most definitely Pádraig Amond, Donal O'Riordan and Joe Waters.

When I shared that thought with Daubney Diary he suggested that it may have something to do with a background where, not being quite at the level they'd get hoovered up by Arsenal or Manchester United's scouts, they had to work hard to get a purchase in the professional game from the League of Ireland. He also noted that they come from hurling strongholds, a sport where team spirit and discipline are almost a religion.

Football, and Town, are always better for players who bring with them a hinterland of other interests, a cross-fertilisation of values. Often those values come from a distance, and they enrich us all.

Enjoy your weekend.