Cod Almighty | Diary

Typical Town

13 December 2024

Your A46 Diary is a sponge. I soak up the opinions of those around me and, if they're not too hare-brained, those ideas and attitudes creep into my permeable brain, and someone else's Good Thing will become my Good Thing and vice versa. At last Tuesday's home game against Accrington, for instance, I chided my neighbour for negative thoughts at 1-0, yet, by the time we kicked off the second half with a comfortable 4-0 scoreline, I'd agreed that all it meant was that we had three points we won't need to get in March or April.

Fickle is to football as good Christian Yuletide cheer is to Christians, so I'll make no apologies for lurching from one position to another, from the Good Thing to the Bad Thing. But it does, on occasion, make me pause and consider whether or not a fickle foundation is an essential part of the structure that is a Grimsby Town fan, a football fan. After all, we can't claim exclusivity in the caprice of swinging wildly from callous to compassionate, from cruel to kind; capriciousness is the thing that unites us, our volatility and irrationality, these are the things that mark us out as supporters. We're the institutionalised masses, the ones who've chosen this absurd path of recrimination and reciprocation.

And we volunteer for it! We turn up in all weathers and all runs-of-form despite a mountain of evidence that tells us to stay away. Far away.

Yet, there we are, thousands of us, millions across the country and only our fickle hearts to unite us. It's nothing as simple as a love of the game or the fear of missing out. FOMO is a powerful driver but there are times, sometimes long periods, when attendance becomes a chore, and those who miss the first game that turns the form around may have a twinge of regret, but they know that there'll be other times, more moments. So, for now, the fickleness can kick in and protect us as we blame 'typical Town', and fall back into the habits that drive us up walls, rounds corners, down to dark depths and up to dizzying heights.

Last Tuesday night, the chap in the next seat put us both in our places, telling us something along the lines of recognising a good thing when we see it. He's right, of course, and we did see it, we did enjoy it, but the fun we had, the gallows humour, mixed with the excellent display and the prophesied second half flop made us feel like kings up there at the back of the Pontoon.

So, while I'd like to be a strong-minded - perhaps even stubborn - football supporter, to leave the caprice behind and be a fan of principle, a steady hand, not someone tossed by the storms of Pontoon pontification, I will remind myself that the fickleness is not just fundamental it is a lot of fun.

Crewe tomorrow. Let's hope there are plenty of Railway Men grumbling about 'typical Alex' in the Osmond.