Cod Almighty | Diary
Top of the league, you're having a laugh
22 March 2017
Another week, another Fishy thread about whether to sack a manager who's been in the job for less time than it takes to run a bath. Back when your original/regular Diary were a lad, of course, we would all have laughed in disbelief at such a suggestion. I don't want to be one of those middle-aged Town fans who grumbles that it all started to go wrong when the club sacked George Kerr, but I am one of those middle-aged Town fans who grumbles that it all started to go wrong when the club sacked George Kerr.
But at that point, of course, football fans used to just watch the football, moan a bit if we lost, dodge the scrapping and ride home on our Raleigh Grifters. We didn't use to say things like football is a results business or a degree of squad rotation is essential to negotiate late-season fixture congestion or the club is unsustainable without a new stadium including facilities to unlock non-matchday revenue streams. We just got on with supporting the team, eating Findus crispy pancakes, worrying about impending nuclear apocalypse and watching The Fall Guy on ITV.
Some of the players who've been rotated a bit further than others will find themselves all the way out in the reserves today in what is apparently a "top of the table clash" with Hartlepool. I sort of think the word clash is a bit over-dramatic for a reserve game, but if we're top of the Central League and Pools are second then maybe it's justified today.
Town's second string have reached this lofty position, of course, on the back of an overinflated senior squad and the need to give a run-out in the stiffs to long-time pros with the nous to overcome Mansfield's youth team fairly straightforwardly. Today's team includes Josh Gowling, James Berrett, Sean McAllister and Adi Yussuf, while former GTFC hero Carl Magnay will run out for Pools on his way back from injury. The Mariners' superb new official website says you can follow the match there, but you can't. Oh, wait – now you can.
One player who won't be taking part, of course, is Rhys Browne. As Smiley Marcus has second thoughts about his preferred formation (and third thoughts, and fourth, etc etc), I wonder if he's regretting the decision to loan Browne out to Macclesfield for the rest of the season.
At the time it seemed a reasonable move all round. A move closer to his family down south didn't materialise, but the lad showed little sign of finding his way into the team at GTFC. Since then, though, the 3-5-2 system that denied Browne a place has been discarded, opening the door to his fellow winger Tom Bolarinwa – who at one point seemed as far out of the picture as Browne himself. Now, of course, Browne is ripping it apart for Macc, with another man-of-the-match performance in the Ukip-supporting bastards' win at Chester last night.
Still, you live and learn. Or we hope you do, anyway. That's why John Fenty was right not to sack Paul Hurst, and that's why he and Smiley Marcus both need to ignore the messageboards. Onwards and at least onwards.