Cod Almighty | Diary
Déjà vu in West Yorkshire
16 September 2014
Today's Middle-Aged Diary will be largely devoted to marking your card with good reading elsewhere, but let's begin with the sinister conjunction that we travel to Halifax tonight almost exactly a year after we went there last season, and lost 4-0.
This was not long after Rob Scott had been suspended as co-manager. The uncertain situation led definitely-not-chairman John Fenty to ring Radio Humberside to deny that there was any uncertainty, as fans can "read between the lines", and thereby question the responsibility of journalists to ask questions to try and find out what is going on. It was, in short, our darkest hour.
If this season's darkest hour proves to be Town losing twice on the trot, we won't be too badly off. There is no word on who will partner Ross Hannah up front in the absence of Jon-Paul Pittman and Lenell John-Lewis.
I'm pretty sure that 4-0 defeat was described somewhere as Town's worst ever performance. It is a description that is applied to at least one match a season, so I tend to discount it, unless I hear it from Neville Butt. Neville has been watching Grimsby since the 1940s, and in recent years we have been lucky enough to have him sharing his always entertaining, always informative recollections on the pages of Cod Almighty.
The latest installment of Neville's history of Grimsby goalkeepers is now available. It might take a fair chunk of your lunchtime to read it, but make sure you do read it when you have 15 minutes to spare. You may have read about Bill Shankly's and Allenby Chilton's achievements as Town managers, but Neville provides the colour. It also provides the answer to what ought to be a question at the Mariners Trust's forthcoming quiz night. And yes, it does include notes from a match that Neville describes as "among the worst ever Town performances"
Neville's article means that the current Theme Team is less prominent on the site, so let me remind you that nominations are still open for our 'useless but popular' XI. We have had enough nominations to form a team, but it would have to turn out in a formation that not even the most attack-minded manager would consider – with just one full-back, one central defender, no central midfielders and no goalkeeper.
Those who have nominated have tended to reinterpret the theme as 'useless but not actually unpopular'. This is fine, but we'd also like to see some inconoclasm. Feel free to suggest players who were 'popular but overrated'. If you think Clive Mendonca was a greedy goal-hanger, or that Joe Waters was too short to play in midfield, we want to hear from you. Well, sort of. We'll disagree with what you say, but we will defend, up to the point it causes us any slight discomfort, your right to say it.
Enjoy the game, and sing even if you don't.