Cod Almighty | Diary

The Wrong Trousers

7 October 2024

Miss Guest Diary writes: Well the omens were against Town from the start on Saturday. Strike one: after losing a battle with a bottle of bleach and ending up looking like a Jackson Pollock, there had to be a late substitution for Mr B's lucky trousers of this season. Strike two: Mr B's season ticket wouldn't 'work' at his usual turnstile and he was forced to use a different one. Could it then be a coincidence that George MacEachran put in his worst performance of the season so far and Harvey Rodgers had what can only be described as a total melt down?

I prefer to cling onto this bit of magical thinking to explain Town's poor performance against Doncaster than buy Artell's excuses about too much travelling and an early kick off. Did the players walk to Carlisle or Gillingham? No, they travelled in a luxury coach. They are professional athletes and playing three games in eight days should be well within their capabilities. After all, three seasons ago our own beloved Mariners played and won three 120 minute games away from home in 13 days. And what about the famous Wembley season of 1998 when Town won the Auto Windscreen Shield in extra time at Wembley on the Sunday and travelled to Carlisle and won again a mere two days later.

We have all got used to witnessing varying levels of performance these last few years and David Artell has said there will be bumps in the road. That's only to be expected with lower division football teams but please don't give the players readymade excuses for bad performances. On Tuesday against Gillingham they looked like a solid team who had each others' backs, on Saturday they looked like a bunch of blokes who'd barely been introduced. The Town players have shown they have skill and heart and after three straight wins they should have had the confidence too. But all it took was for Doncaster to run at them and score an early goal and they fell apart. Why? – I don't know, I can only hope that Artell will stop making excuses and figure that out.

Then there's the return of Harry Clifton to Blundell Park; I was dreading it to be honest. I had hoped against hope that he would get a good reception from the Town fans but of course there was booing. Maybe if Town had beaten Doncaster those booing would have felt more magnanimous towards a young man who gave 14 years to the club, who scored crucial goals in our epic FA Cup run, who earned the free kick at Notts County which allowed Town to equalise and ultimately gain promotion. But maybe not. Given the amount of stick he got on social media last season for turning up every week and working his socks off for the club, it's more than likely the mean-spirited attitude of such people which caused Harry to leave us in the first place. I felt quite upset when the Doncaster fans triumphantly, and accurately, sang that "Harry Clifton is a Red" but I do wonder how he felt when they added the rider that "he hates Grimsby".

To leave on a high note - check out these fan favourites whose return Blundell Park on Saturday attracted only positive vibes.

UTM