Cod Almighty | Postbag

Retrospective

5 July 2015

Summertime, and compiling the Postbag is easy...

Twice bitten and miss at the coconut shy

Having just read (belatedly) the Diary for 20 January 2015, I wonder if Gilbert's reaction that night at Upton Park was caused by Alan Buckley's reaction against Reading at home in March 1991.

I remember Cockers had scored twice with one being direct from a corner when Town were awarded a penalty. John Cockerill picked up the ball and strode confidently towards the spot expecting to complete his first ever hat-trick for Town but AB went berserk on the touchline shouting for Diddy to take it. Fortunately he scored. Cockers never did get his hat-trick but I'll take the brace he got against Exeter that season as being as good as one.

from Steve Winn

Perplexing positivity

I am now back from my American adventure and slightly perplexed at all the positivity flying around GTFC currently. On Sunday 17 May my four-day-old granddaughter slept through her first Town game including extra time, and still had her eyes closed, just like our only retained striker, when he missed his penalty and almost hit my son in the crowd. I know I wasn't at Wembley to soak up the atmosphere or experience the pain: but BT Sport did a pretty good job and I could see and hear you all. The hurt was just as harrowing in the Californian sunshine, if not more excruciating because of my absence from the match.

However, am I the only Town fan still in mourning? I have religiously worn black socks (if any) since our defeat and can't believe everybody is being sucked in by the Crowd Pleaser Money Raising thingy. Surely most Town fans have seen enough false dawns over the years to realise this sort of optimism just makes us even more miserable once it all turns to 'rat shit' each season?

I was going to add a nice positive quote from someone famous, but I couldn't be bothered!

PS. I wrote this before reading Monday's diary!

from Jeremy Baily

The man who sat among the home supporters at the Den and lived to tell the tale

I witnessed this extraordinary game in the FA Cup at Millwall's infamous Den in 1982.  We were losing 1-0 at half-time but rallied in the second half to win 6-1 through the likes of Waters, Whymark and Cumming.

I was sat among the home fans. They turned on their own team and started cheering every Town touch with the score at 4-1.

I even managed a drink in the club bar with the Town players before they caught the coach back home.

from Mark Standley

What footballers do in the close season

I thought Craig Disley had signed up for next season, but then the horror...

He’s in the new AMC series Humans on Sunday nights here in the USA. Did he just film this during the summer break?

Please advise!

from Worried New York City Mariner

Vulcan gullibility

I was inspired by a recent daily diary recounting the last flight of a vulcan bomber over Cleethorpes beach. I remember seeing one overhead in about 1970 and after climbing onto the coal bunker in the back yard I could have sworn it was just above chimbley height. It was probably several thousand feet up, but my gullible mates believed me.

However at that age I was also conned by a mate who found some discarded chicken feet down a passage near Edward Street and his story was that they were from a golden eagle that had swooped down on his brother, attacked him, but lost the fight when he ripped its legs off. It seems the more people you tell, and the louder you shout, the more believable it becomes! Perhaps he'd just seen Kes at the Odeon and had a fertile mind.

Anyway – at least the plane inspired the American TV series we all loved to watch in the 70s – even if it was just to catch a glimpse of Yeoman whateverhernamewas' legs.

I left GY in the 80's but regularly visit the CA site, even though I don't get to see the Mariners any more. Great article recently about Dave Worthington. It was spot on. My abiding memory of Town are Dave's tricky flicks as he ran onto the pitch, that dark tan, and Dave Boylen's stumpy little legs. Like a weeble that wobbles but won't fall down as the advert said.

I've not really got into this argument about Peakes Parkway, but when I look at homogenous grounds in the middle of nowhere with their franchised KFC & TGI Fridays, the more I yearn for the fact that you could spill out of Blundell Park into your choice of chippy/pub/wine bar (80s nostalgia) or go for a paddle in the arcades. The Hainton (is it still there?) doesn't have the same appeal does it?

Anyway CA – live long & prosper.

from Steveo

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