Cod Almighty | Diary
The road to Hayes & Yeading is paved with good intentions
14 September 2017
Wicklow Diary writes: Having witnessed Kerr, Buckley I, II, III and Hurst get stick, I know there isn't a manager, past present or future, who we Town fans won't call a gormless idiot within half a dozen games. Slade wasn't the only target after the Mansfield game last weekend. The Balon d'Gorm ballot paper was filling with candidates from the pitch too. Old reliable boo-boy go-tos like Summerfield and Vernon were joined by blow-ins Clarke and Dixon. In my calmer moments, I think it's too short a period to judge a player or a manager, but people were lashing out and I didn't want to get left behind. I went with my default target of John Fenty. In my defence, judging after six games is harsh, but 15 years of failure makes you fair game.
When everyone had dried off after Accrington, there was a temptation to ask what all the fuss had been about. West Country chickens were counted and points totted. Beat Yeovil at the weekend and we'll have more than at the same stage last season. Slade in! Leave Fenty alone, he's Town through and through and saved the club, if you're so clever, where's your millions, etc.
Yet I'm still antsy. Others are too. Very antsy. Full-blown Adam and the Ants banging out 'Antmusic' with two drummers in the Antillles antsy. I think I've pinned down why.
I knew we weren't getting relegated in 2008-09. All those Pack the Parks and Barry Conlon's goals would save us. I also knew we'd apply the lessons learnt the following season. We're the famous GTFC, we're never going down. Even during that, let's face it, comically long winless run, I knew we'd find a way to survive. I told you already, we're the famous GTFC. Non-League? No chance. Not us. Someone will get another points deduction. Or fail a stadium certificate in a league below us. I still believed we'd dig ourselves out at Burton. It was only when the third goal went in that a cause lost for months finally dawned on me.
This time round, I've no such illusions. Town have failed before and they can fail again.
Some of the scenes at Burton were shameful. However, if I could have foreseen six years of Braintree, Chasetown and Ross Joyce, I'd have grabbed the nearest chunk of stadium too
I know we all found some positives in non-League. That was just for sanity purposes. It seems obvious but our spell in non-League has upped the ante. I mean to unsafe levels. There won't be shrugs and resigned sighs of 'typical Town' if we get relegated this May. Heads will literally explode. Literally, not that figurative meaning of 'literally'.
I can't do it. Not by doing the exact same things all over again, anyroad. Some of the scenes at Burton were shameful. However, if I could have foreseen six years of Braintree, Chasetown and Ross Joyce, I'd have grabbed the nearest chunk of stadium too. They'd still be trying to fill in the hole in the ground that I'd left behind.
Hindsight is 20/20 so use it. If there's a long-term plan, a vision to avoid a repeat of 2010, I've yet to see evidence of it. I think if there was, we wouldn't have to say "Fenty out" and he wouldn't have to tell us where to go.
In typical Thursday fashion there's not much in the way of actual news today. Original/regular Diary filled you in yesterday on the TV coverage coming your way. What's the level after supersaturated? The kids had the Champions League coverage on the other night. Eight games on at once, all on the same screen. I thought they were playing Xbox or something. Goals were pinging in every minute or so. That's not football.
I put it to the room that they should pick one game but the motion was declined as they didn't want to miss a goal. I wonder if during any of the money fights, some UEFA or TV brass stops to consider the achievement of creating a competition and medium that makes Barcelona v Juventus not worth watching. What TV will do for Accy v Town in the future, I'm not sure. For now, all I can do is applaud the fans who went on Tuesday night. Even if we'd got tonked 5-0, Accrington away on a Tuesday night beats being stuck at home watching the TV.
That's yer lot. I'll leave you with a teaser. Can you tell who said this before clicking on the link? I'll give you a clue: his final GTFC judgement came after five months.
I think if you look at my record, I don't want a job, I want a project. I want to be able to build something. I believe I've shown I can do that but you need time. To get time you need results, and I've always got results. I believe I should have had the time to put into place what I thought I was going into...
I went to Grimsby and it was nowhere near in terms of infrastructure. Nowhere near. You'd be amazed. That's a Football League club and they didn't have the infrastructure and support staff that all women's clubs have in terms of sports science, strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology.