Cod Almighty | Diary

Everything but the game

16 December 2024

Miss Guest Diary writes: When I think of Town at the moment I am reminded of that old Morecambe & Wise sketch about playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order. Town have some good players and have played some good football at times, but there's no consistency. Even the 5-2 against Accrington was only half a performance. The consensus 'out there' seems to be that all is good in the Town universe and we are improving, in fact heading in the right direction. So why doesn't it feel like that when I'm sat in the Pontoon on a Saturday afternoon?

I have seen about two thirds of Town's games but, due to health issues and a preponderance of games in the far north west, have been to only three away games, two of which we lost, so most of my viewing has been at Blundell Park. With the exception of the Bradford and Accrington games there has not been a lot to cheer. The early victories were tentative at best – something to build on – but in the last ten weeks it has felt at times like Town are regressing.

Leaving aside the post-Covid promotion season, I struggle to recall when I last felt real enthusiasm for Saturday games at BP. Mostly it's more about the peripherals – lunch at a local café, visiting relatives, seeing football friends – and if the football turns out to be good, that's the cherry on the cake. I am longing for the day when the game itself is the cake once more and everything else the cherries. I want to believe that Artell can make that happen, but as yet I simply don't.

So I am consoling myself with other things, such as thanking our lucky stars that the club is now in the hands of Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit, local men made good, who have the interests of the town and the club at heart. Have a listen to this podcast in which Jason talks about his past and why he invested in our club. He talks a bit about data too – but you can skip over that bit if, like me, you are still a sceptic.

Elsewhere we have the news that the youth team have drawn Spurs at home in the next round of the FA Youth Cup. Someone at CA Towers built my hopes up by suggesting that Wayne Burnett might manage their youth team but a quick Google dashed that hope – he actually manages their under-23 team. I suppose if he's not busy he might come along to the match for old times' sake, and I'll be there keeping my eye out just in case.

Then there's reports that Ian Holloway had to be restrained by his own players on Saturday afternoon after getting into an argument with a fan when Swindon lost at Bradford, telling him not to come if he didn't like it. Now where have we heard that before? Let's hope we can pile some more pressure on the Hollow Man when we visit next Saturday.

I'll be there, so is this the game where Town stop being so rubbish in front of me and the promise they made to be good comes good?

Wouldn't that be nice?