Cod Almighty | Diary

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh

12 March 2025

There’s a Cherry Tree in my garden. It’s young. Almost two years old. On Saturday afternoon I notice that it’s starting to bloom. The dainty, white petals dazzling in the sun. It looks nice but I just can’t enjoy the view. The blossoms remind me too much of the fleeting nature of life and the cruel beauty of impermanence. The more radiant those tiny white flowers look, the greater the sense of loss when they are gone in a few weeks time. I ponder this for a while and conclude the tree needs to go. I resolve to chainsaw it to bits. I’d rather look at the patch of mud that was there before.

The Cherry Tree is on my mind because it is the most elegant thing in my quagmire of a back garden. Imagine a jaunty sapling planted in the six yard box in front of the Pontoon and you are somewhere close. I was looking at it through the kitchen window after the outstanding Walsall victory on Saturday when the post match interviews began on Radio Humberside. There I am, doing the washing up when Matt Dean asks David Artell if Town would be ready for League One if we were to be promoted. David answered politely, but I found the question jarring. It snapped me out of the warm fuzzy glow of an away win at the league leaders. We’re still not even in the playoff places and I’m immediately anxious about how we might cope in the league above if a bigger club comes along and signs Jason Dadi Svanthorsson.

Matt Dean was only doing his job as a journalist. He asked a question that we’ve probably allowed ourselves to daydream about. It has no doubt been doing the rounds on numerous group chats. For me, it tapped into the feeling that success is so fragile and transient that it can be difficult to enjoy. That, coupled with the relentlessness of football means there’s always the next thing to worry about. Of course a sane and balanced person might tell me to be present, live in the moment, but how am I supposed to be mindful when Denver Hume still hasn’t signed a new contract? Who will take the set pieces in League One?

The truth is we do have to remember to enjoy and celebrate good performances and results when they come along. Three days later you might be on the end of a disappointing home defeat to Notts County with a sudden and severe injury crisis threatening to derail the whole season. I guess the secret to it all is to accept the fleeting good times of football and Cherry Trees. The cycle of growth and renewal means that better times will return, and in Town’s case they are coming back faster and more frequently than we have known for quite some time. I should put the chainsaw away.